The Flame Burns Deep
by MistyMew
Summary: When a mysterious pokémon decides to play matchmaker for Ash and Misty, it devises a risky plan, but when it backfires with deadly results, what has the power to restore what was lost? Will it take more than just love? My first fanfic.
1. Part One

The Flame Burns Deep

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the pokemon (the best thing in the entire world!) characters, the only thing I own is the story and plot itself! I'm not going to make any money off of this, don't sue me, I'm only 13! Sorry for anything I missed!

Foreword

This is my first romance, so please go easy on me as far as how romantic this is. I've spent quite a large amount of time writing this, and it has one heck of a plot. It is kind of a sequel to Pokemon: The First Movie, so don't flame me for the similarities, they were intended! It takes place when Ash is on the way back to Pallet from the Orange League. I hope y'all enjoy it! I think it's a pretty distinctive AAMRN! 

The Flame Burns Deep

Prologue: The Search

A tiny white speck darted through the star-filled velvety sky. Its head rotated back and forth, almost hypnotically, as if it were searching for something. And indeed it was. Its glowing eyes, like large sapphire gems, kept ceaseless watch over the forest below it, never blinking nor taking its eyes off the moonlit tops of the trees below. Yet, if you stared long enough at the eyes of this creature, you would realize it was not looking at the trees, but through them. Though it seemed very strange, the creature was not even seeing the trees, but rather was seeing the ground directly below them. Sleeping pokemon were brought into the range of its intense gaze occasionally, but it gave not a second glance at the curled up Rattatas, roosting Pidgeys, or even the rare Pinsir sleeping leaning against a large tree. It was on a mission.

It was nearly daybreak before it heard something promising; the soft, relaxed breathing of five living beings. Its small ears twitched at the sound and something deeply embedded in its brain told it that this was not just the breathing of pokemon, but that of humans mixed in, too. It glided noiselessly to where the noises were coming from, with hope rising swiftly in its brain. It descended ever closer, hoping with all its heart that this sound would be the link it needed to find the two people it had been searching for for exactly, to the day, a year now. 

Its eyes were directed to a small, peaceful clearing surrounded by tall pine trees. There its eyes rested on three rectangular objects, approximately four feet apart and six feet long, while about three feet wide. The first was red with bubbles on it, the second gray, while the third was green. Though it had never seen one clearly before, the creature knew immediately that these were sleeping bags. It swooped still closer; to get a clear look at whom was inside them. It squinted its eyes for no particular reason, for its night vision was better than its day vision. Its heart leapt at what it saw.

In the first sleeping bag lay a red-haired girl, around ten or twelve, with sparkling blue eyes. It could easily see she wasn't asleep (how could it see her eyes if she was asleep?) but she lay quite still. Her gaze was focused on the sleeping bag to her right, where a black-haired boy about her age slept. It quickly sped behind a tree to avoid being seen, but stayed close enough that it could watch. Her eyes glimmered with sadness, but a small smile played at her lips.

"If only you knew Ash," she whispered gently, "if only you knew…" 

It smiled at this, obviously plotting something in its complicated brain. It had found what it was searching for.

It watched and listened a little longer, trying to see if Misty would say anything else. It knew she had fallen asleep when Ash said "pokeball, go!" enthusiastically in his sleep and she didn't react. With no one awake to spy on, it fell deep into thought, about The Plan, why it had to do this.

It had started when it had first laid eyes on Ash, while rescuing him from certain death at the same time. Ash had gone on to do something so courageous and deeply touching, it felt it had to repay him somehow. It would seem he owed it his life, but it thought nothing of saving him, and anyway, it had known he was special from the beginning and he deserved something that would help him on his difficult journey to being the World's Number One Pokemon Trainer. At first it hadn't known what it could do for him that fit that description without helping him too much. That was until it did some peeking into his mind. It found that Ash had loved Misty from the beginning, but most of the time he didn't realize that he loved her, and when he did there was no way he could bring up the nerve to admit it to her. Knowing that, it knew it had to do more investigating, and moments later had pried into Misty's mind also. It had found that Misty loved Ash more than anything, but on the contrary she had trouble hiding it. They both had one definite thing in common in their perception of each other, though. They both feared rejection from the other. Then it devised a plan, a plan that would bring Ash and Misty together, no matter what the risks.

With that it snapped out of its 'mental vacation' and focused on the three other living beings that also slept here. The first was Togepi, Misty's baby pokemon, who slept sucked into his shell next to Misty's red backpack to her right, the second was Pikachu, who slept curled up at Ash's feet on his sleeping bag, and the third was not Brock, as it had thought it would be, but a greenish-blackish-haired teenage boy it had never seen before. It frowned in frustration. How would it get him out of the picture for about a week? But suddenly it decided it wasn't time for worrying, on the other hand it was time to celebrate! Being the playful creature it was, it began bouncing ecstatically on the pine branches. It looked skyward; suddenly realizing it was getting lighter. There its aching eyes were greeted with an outburst of color. Small, fluffy, white clouds dotted the vast sky. Their outermost edges were lined with a fluorescent shining pink. Behind them was a brilliant array of orange, red, purple, blue, and even a small hint of green. The stars, though faded, gave the sky a dreamlike effect.

Realizing Ash and his friends would be waking up any moment, it disappeared into thin air, without a trace it had ever been there.

Chapter One: Special Delivery!

Strange, poetic words formed in her head. Though she could hear them, a voice was not saying them.

"_A near loss in your life will soon be revealed,_

There is only one way this loss can be healed,

The person you love to me is much known,

To that person your love must be shown…"

Then, as swiftly as the words formed, they were gone.

The next thing Misty knew soft gentle sunlight was warming her cheek. She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she heard Ash's voice; though she assumed it was just a dream. She always dreamt about Ash… After waking up a little more though, she realized she really was hearing his voice.

"C'mon Misty, wake up! It's time for breakfast!"

Misty responded with a groan.

"Pleeease Misty-hmmm…wait a minute here…" his voice started sounding frantic. "Hey Misty! Look! There's a Caterpie sleeping right next to you!!!" he yelled enthusiastically.

With that Misty shrieked and leapt out of her sleeping bag and hid behind Ash.

"Where's the bug?! Where is it?!" she asked frantically, her blue eyes darting all over, searching for any sign of a bug pokemon.

Ash was in hysterics. In between his fits of laughing you could decipher the words "knew," "wake," "you," and "up." Misty, obviously not thinking this was the slightest bit funny, whacked Ash with her mallet. Pikachu (who had been awake the whole time) got sick of watching this argument and quite predictably Thundershocked the two. In doing this though, he accidentally shocked Togepi, too, who had (up until the moment) been sleeping. Togepi began crying like mad and Misty was unconscious from the unexpected Thundershock so she couldn't comfort him. Tracey, in a feeble attempt to get to Togepi, knocked over the rice he was cooking over their campfire, spilling it everywhere. When he finally stumbled his way to Togepi, Togepi just cried harder at the sight of Tracey. It was a disaster.

When everyone was finally conscious again, the campsite was clean of rice, and they were all packed up and ready to start hiking again, the sun's brilliant rays were suddenly darkened as a large shadow flew overhead. The five friends watched in awe as a large majestic bird pokemon flew into view, carefully picking its way through the pine branches, and landed gracefully on the ground next to them. 

"Pidg-geot," it squawked sharply. The sun glinted against its fierce eyes.

"P-p-Pidgeot?" Ash stuttered, "is it…my Pidgeot?"

Pidgeot shook its giant feathered head no.

"I was going to say, if you were Ash's Pidgeot you would have to have grown a lot," chuckled Misty.

Ash shot her a disapproving glance and asked grumpily, "What was wrong with _my_Pidgeot?"

"Nothing, I was just commenting on this one's tremendous size," Misty shot back.

"C'mon you guys, I'm sick of all your arguing," sighed Tracey.

It was just then that Ash noticed a glint of white sticking out of Pidgeot's beak. On closer inspection he realized it was a folded up piece of paper. He reached for it, but Tracey got it first. He read it aloud.

"_Dear Ash and Friends, hope you get this letter soon. My lab has gone completely out of control! The pokemon are all going crazy! I was wondering if one of you could come help me. If you're interested, just hop on Pidgeot and he'll give you a ride here to Pallet. _

Signed,

Prof. Oak"

Tracey paused for a moment, then replied happily, "this is just the chance I've been waiting for! I hope you two don't mind if I go for a little while."

Ash and Misty nodded no in unison and Misty said quietly, "go on Tracey, we don't mind." Ash wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a hint of pure happiness in her voice. Misty glanced at him, seemingly nervously and Ash glanced back, not even slightly aware of what this glancing was all about.

Tracey looked at them suspiciously and started saying, "oh, I get it, you two want to be *alone* together!"

Misty immediately got a ticked-off mark and pulled out her mallet and held it over his head. "Dare to repeat that?" she inquired angrily. Ash simply fell over at Traceys stupidity. 

Tracey sweatdropped and said nervously, "hehehe, but Misty, you *did* say, right before you saved Ash-" Tracey was cut off by Misty saying (in a very PO'ed manner) "*What did I say about Ash, Tracey?!*"

Tracey, who was now very scared of Misty, replied quietly, "just kidding Misty…."

Ash was now very confused at the mention of Misty saving him (recall he was unconscious when she saved him in their adventure with Lugia) Ash shot questioning glances at his friends until Misty whispered to him shakily, "Tracey isn't quite mentally stable, Ash. Don't listen to him."

After getting the few things he didn't have packed up, Tracey leapt onto Pidgeots giant back. Ash, Misty, Pikachu, and Togepi all waved farewell as Pidgeot spread its huge feathered wings and, its claws gripping the ground, launched itself into the air above. Its powerful wings churned at the air, and before the four remaining friends could respond, Pidgeot was just a speck, speeding into the clear blue sky. Then Pidgeot disappeared completely. Ash and Misty stood silent for a moment, staring at the soft blue sky. Pikachu and Togepi stood quietly also. Pidgeots speed was stunning. "Well, that was fast," Ash murmured.

"Fast is an understatement!" Misty said, her blue-green eyes wide in amazement. Suddenly snapping out of the stunned trance she said (with a twinge of uneasiness in her voice) "Well Ash, it's just you and me…"

"Yeah, Ash replied, "and Pikachu and Togepi and Squirtle and Bulbasaur and-"

Misty cut him short with a sigh and yelled, "I meant we're the only HUMANS here, Ash! I wasn't including pokemon!"

"Um…hehehe, yeah Misty, I knew that," Ash said with a small sweatdrop, knowing that if he played dumb any longer he would surely be hit by one of Mistys 'mallets of doom.' 

"*Sure* you did," Misty responded sarcastically.

For once, she didn't feel like arguing with Ash, so she changed the subject quickly. "It's just like the old days isn't it Ash…Just you and me and Pikachu."

"Yeah," said Ash, slightly surprised she would bring up the subject of them being alone again. He had noticed she had seemed kinda nervous ever since Tracey announced his departure. 'Could it be she's uncomfortable being alone with me?' he thought, but then quickly dismissed that thought, 'why would she be nervous around me after all the times we've been through together?' Together. That word (when applied to him and Misty) made him blush slightly. 

Misty, unfortunately for him, noticed the sudden redness in his cheeks and asked him gently, "is anything wrong, Ash?"

"No!" he answered quickly, "what gave you that idea?"

"I dunno, it looked like you were blushing."

"Well I wasn't!" he shot back stubbornly. He looked at the ground and kicked some dirt while the redness faded from his face and he thought of something to say. He glanced towards Pikachu and Togepi, who both sat quietly on the ground, stern expressions on their usually smiling faces.

"Pikachu?" Ash questioned his electric mouse, " what's wrong buddy?" Pikachu stood, completely silent, as if he weren't hearing Ash at all. Instead he just squinted his deep brown eyes.

"What is with them?" Misty said, obviously as puzzled as Ash, "I hope they're okay…"

Ash repeated, this time more urgently, "what's wrong Pikachu?" Pikachu lowered his eyes, then, in a voice matching his expression said, "pika chu pi, Pikapi, pika pi chu pi… (Translation: "I don't know Ash, I just don't know…)

Chapter Two: A Psychic message

"So Ash, exactly how far are we from any civilization *what so ever*?!" Misty whined irritably.

"Ummm…hmmm, last time I checked, about forty miles," Ash replied calmly.

"Forty miles!" Misty exclaimed, " Ash that'll take us at least seven days to hike! "Complained Misty, who was now getting very fed up with Ash's terrible sense of direction.

"Well, don't blame me! It was Tracey's idea to come this way!"

Misty couldn't think of any good comeback to that except, "well, remind me to give him a good whomping when he gets back!"

"Okay," Ash said, amused that Misty trusted him of all people to remember that, until he remembered he was the only other human within forty miles (he has a great memory, doesn't he?)

A tense silence settled on the four travelers, and all was peaceful for a while. Misty glanced at Ash with a ghost of a smile on her face. She was glad Ash hadn't started the argument over again like he usually did. Misty looked skyward. Faintly through the dense trees she could see the sky. She noticed with some alarm that the bright blue sky was now dotted with dark clouds. They drifted slowly across the sky with an ominous silence. A tiny white speck sped through the sky, just to disappear behind one of the dark puffs of cloud. Misty knew she was probably imagining it, but yet something in her head told her this was not just her imagination. She quickly dismissed the dark thought and began thinking along happier lines. She was actually pretty happy Tracey had left. He had sort of been getting on her nerves lately, yet at the same time she worried that she would accidentally blurt something out that would give away her true feelings towards Ash while they were alone. If he rejected her, she didn't know what she'd do. 

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it, Ash?" Misty said cheerfully, seeing no way that comment could start an argument.

"Yeah, pretty nice," Ash agreed, his face to the sun, his eyes closed happily and a bright smile illuminating his face. Misty noticed the clouds were beginning to block out the sun's rays, though, but she didn't mention this to Ash, knowing he would tease her for worrying too much if she did. Yet there was something in the air that was very strange, if not slightly scary. The feeling that she was being watched added to this sensation. She tried to shake it off, but it only got stronger. She suddenly felt very dizzy and began to black out. Something in her brain (that seemed almost familiar…) told her very strongly, yet at the same time pleadingly, '_tell Ash, Misty. Tell him how you feel about him, please, Misty, please. I really don't want to hurt anyone…'_

'No!'she told the voice mentally, 'I'll tell him when the right moment comes…Which definitely isn't now!' Suddenly her dream instantaneously came back to her memory; something about love, and losing someone…'You can't hurt Ash!' she said mentally and the voice merely replied '_I am_ _sorry, but I promise this will turn out okay…It hurts me so much to cause pain…_'With that the voice faded. Terror filled Misty's brain.

For a moment Misty just stared tremblingly ahead, where Ash, Pikachu, and Togepi (whom she had allowed to stay with Pikachu) strolled casually, before her legs buckled beneath her and she fell into the moist forest soil with a soft thud.

Upon hearing Misty's limp body hit the forest floor, Ash's head whipped around to see what had happened. Her body lay sprawled out on the ground unmoving.

"Misty!" Ash yelled, obviously very worried.

"Chu!" Pikachu yelled directly after his trainer.

"Togi?" Togepi questioned, being much too young to understand. Yet upon seeing Misty's still form he began to bawl.

Ash instinctively ran to Misty, as did Pikachu, but the yellow one turned back to try to calm Togepi, who's sobs were getting louder by the moment.

As Ash reached Misty's side he immediately dropped to his knees. He gently laid his hand on her arm and murmured quietly, "Misty…" She trembled slightly at his touch. "C'mon Misty, wake up, please…" he pleaded with an edge of sadness in his voice. 

"Pikapi? Pika chu pi?" (Translation: "Ash? Is she okay?) Pikachu asked as he ran to his friends' side. Togepi sniffled and toddled over also.

"I-I hope so…"Ash answered as he hugged her close. Pikachus face softened and he asked slowly, "Pi chu pika, pikachu pi chu, Pikapi?" (Translation: "You're really worried, aren't you, Ash?")

"No-" Ash started, but decided against lying to his best friend. "Oh, why should I hide it from you? You can't tell anyone…"

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded and quickly silenced to hear what Ash had to say, even though he was pretty sure he already knew what it was.

"I-I really care about her Pikachu, I really don't know why, but it probably has to do with fact we've been through so much together. I've always kinda felt a special connection with her, though…" He looked lovingly at Misty. "She's gonna be okay, Pikachu. I know she is."Pikachu looked at Ash questioningly, "Pi?" (Translation: "How?")

"I dunno, I just have a feeling she is," Ash answered before returning his gaze to Misty.

Pikachu looked admiringly at the two people he loved most with mixed feelings. He partly admired Ash for acting so mature, but he had also known all along how Ash and Misty felt about each other.

Suddenly Ash perked up. He gazed into his electric mouses eyes. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked with an evil smile on his face. At first Pikachu cocked his head questioningly, but slowly it drifted into his brain. Soon he too had an evil grin.

"Just a gentle shock…" Ash began.

"Pi pichu pika!" (Translation: "And she'll wake up!") Pikachu finished.

Pikachu balled up his tiny fist and placed it on Misty's hand. Sparks began to fly from his cheeks. Ash let go of Misty for the moment so he wouldn't get shocked and told Pikachu strongly, "be gentle, pikachu." Pikachu nodded his head quickly, "pika chu, Pikapi." (Translation: "I know, Ash")

Togepi, meanwhile, had been watching this absurd scene with great interest, though it was quite obvious the little egg had no idea what was going on.

Pikachu released a gentle shock from his body and sent it through his palm to Misty's. For a moment Misty's body glowed with an electric light, before it faded swiftly away. Three pairs of eyes were intently focused on Misty. Within seconds of the shock, Misty began to shiver. "I-it's so c-cold," Misty murmured gently, seemingly in a dreamlike state judging from the fact her eyes were still shut and she didn't seem aware of her surroundings.

"Misty!" 

"Chu!" 

"Briii!" 

Three joyous voices said happily, seeing her movement and hearing her speak. Without hesitating Ash rushed over to her, took off his blue and white short sleeved jacket, draped it over her shoulders to keep her warm (he realized the temperature had dropped considerably in the last few moments), sat down in the dirt next to her, and wrapped his arms around her. Feeling the extra warmth, Misty abruptly stopped shivering and relaxed. 

Pikachu and Togepi looked on the scene and Pikachu said to Togepi quietly, "pi chu ka cha pi pikachu? *Sniff * Pika pi chu pika cha…pi pi pikaa chuu pika cha pi ka pikachu pika… (Translation: Don't the make the cutest couple? *sniff * They grow up so quickly… next thing we know they're going to be getting married…") Togepi just plain didn't get it and asked, "togibriii?"(Translation: "whasat?")

"Pika ka chu pi chu kachu…" (Translation: "You'll understand when you're older…")

Misty was now conscious, but in a state of light sleep. Ash was hugging her gently when her eyes fluttered open.

Once her eyes focused slightly she was surprised to find herself in Ash's arms, his face hovering worriedly over her.

Ash knew that if Misty awoke fully in his arms, he would have to explain what she was doing there, so only seconds after her eyes opened he leapt up (after setting her down gently on the ground) and joined Pikachu and Togepi a few feet away.

Misty's eyes focused fully after a few seconds, and she was utterly confused. One minute she was sure she was in Ash's arms, the next she was lying on the ground with Ash's jacket on her shoulders. Seemingly the only sane explanation was it was a dream, but then why would she have Ash's jacket? Then if it wasn't a dream, that would make it reality, which would mean Ash was really hugging her, but why would he do that unless…unless he felt the same way about her that she felt about him… but what were the chances of that? She quickly dismissed it as one of those things that had no logical explanation.

She slowly sat up, and as she did spots swam before her eyes and a dull ache filled her head. She was careful not to let Ash's jacket fall to the ground, knowing she could possibly use it to wheedle something out of Ash.

When she sat up fully the spots disappeared and the headache faded.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked gently, kneeling down to Misty's eye level, but still where he was last, a few feet away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dazed is all." 

"Good, I was kinda worried about you," Ash said with a lop-sided smile. Once he realized what he said his face swiftly turned scarlet.

Misty took this as a good sign, and also a good time to pester him more on the subject. "Hey Ash, how'd your jacket get on my shoulders? Did it teleport? Or did it simply walk over and settle itself on me?" Misty asked with a smug smile. He couldn't back down now. Misty had to stifle a giggle at Ash's response to this simple question. His eyes widened and his face turned a shade darker crimson. 

"Well, um…uh…*sigh* I noticed it was getting cold, so I decided you needed it more than I did. I mean, you were unconscious and all." His face was becoming redder by the second.

"And since when do YOU care about ME?" Misty queried. The playfulness had left her voice so it sounded slightly sad.

"Well, you are my friend." Ash said quietly. 'And maybe even more…' he added in his mind.

Misty put a small smile on her face and laid a hand on his right shoulder, resisting the urge to hug him right then and there. "Thanks Ash," she said shyly, gazing into his deep brown eyes. If it was at all possible his face turned even deeper scarlet at that comment. For a moment the two just stared into each other's eyes, neither wanting to ever break that moment. But of course it was just too good to last. 

"Pi Pikapi! Pika kachu!"(Translation: "C'mon Ash! Tell her now!")

"No!" Ash answered sharply, breaking the moment.

"What did Pikachu say, Ash?" asked Misty. 

"Uh, um, well ya see… he was asking if, er, I mean why you collapsed."

"Oh," Misty said, not really believing that was what Pikachu said, but still starting to become nervous herself.

'How am I gonna get outta this without admitting anything?' she thought uneasily. "Well, I just felt kinda dizzy, then this voice was telling me to..."

"To what?" Ash interrupted questioningly.

"To…um…oh, I forgot." She answered quickly.

Ash raised his eyebrows in disbelief, but he didn't ask anymore about what exactly the disembodied voice was telling her, "and how did that cause you to faint?"

"I dunno, everything just went black after that," Misty answered softly, therefore ending that conversation. Then the two trainers stood silently, side-by-side, under the dark swirling clouds overhead.

Chapter Three: Alone

"Well, I guess we better set up camp here, it looks like a storm's brewing." Misty observed after a few moments of staring at the swiftly darkening sky. Realizing Ash's jacket was *still* on her shoulders, she took it off and handed it to him. "I'm fine now. I don't need this anymore," she told him as he took it from her and put it back on over his black T-shirt. Both the two trainers then kneeled down in the soft dirt and began digging through their backpacks, trying to find the stuff they needed to comfortably spend the night here.

As Misty spread out her sleeping bag, her eyes again drifted to the stormy sky. "Ya know Ash, there are times when I regret not having a tent," she sighed wistfully.

"Hmmm…" Ash responded flatly, "I wonder where my sleeping bag could be…" With that he dumped the contents of his backpack on the ground.

"That's Ash for ya," Misty said to Pikachu and Togepi, "can't even find a sleeping bag in a backpack."

But it took only a quick glance at the scattered objects on the ground to realize that somehow, Ash's sleeping bag just wasn't there.

"Tracey must've taken it on accident," Misty pondered, but then added jokingly, "look's like you're sleeping in the dirt tonight, Ash!"

Ash glanced at the sky, thinking about how *very* fun it was going to be sleeping on the ground in the rain. 'Oh well,' he thought hesitantly, 'I can make a bed out of leaves, I guess…' With that he began gathering leaves piling them up next to Misty's sleeping bag. A gust of wind whistled through the trees. There was something oppressive about it, like thunder (which partly it was) but there was something else, too, something more mysterious and inevitable. The wind snaked its way down to the ground, playing with the two young trainers' hair. Of course, this sudden gust all but destroyed Ash's leaf pile/bed. The leaves gently wafted in the breeze and drifted slowly away. Ash leapt for his remaining leaves, but suddenly stopped.

Somehow, like some magnetic force, his eyes were drawn to Misty. Her hair was blowing softly in the wind and her eyes were fixed worriedly on the sky. 

Sensing his gaze, she turned around and looked him in the eye. "What are you staring at?" she asked uncomfortably.

"You…" he said dreamily, then realizing what he said he added hastily, "just thinking about how incredibly scrawny you are!" He then ducked instinctively from the inevitable mallet. Yet when the dizzying plop didn't arrive on schedule he glanced up at Misty, who, luckily for him, decided to give him one more chance. She stood over him with the mallet directly above his head.

"One more word Ash Ketchum, and you will be merely a puddle of bloody pulp on the ground!" she threatened menacingly.

Pikachu and Togepi had made the most of this situation and now each had a pair of 3-D glasses, a bag of popcorn, and a small soda. "Pikacha pi chu pichu ka? Pi cha pi kachu pi chu!"(Translation: "Who are you betting on? I'm putting my money on Misty!") Pikachu asked Togepi happily.

"Togi togi!" (Translation: "Me too!") Togepi chirped gleefully.

But luckily for everyone except possibly the two pokemon, Ash mumbled, "geez, I was just kidding…" and Misty calmed down.

"Look at the sky Ash!" Misty said in awe, completely forgetting her outrage.

Ash scrambled from his submissive position and looked skyward. It was an impressive sight indeed. 

The entire sky was filled with black clouds that swirled and twisted, as if they were in great agony from the lightning that crashed behind them every once in a while, creating an electric glow that faded away only seconds after it appeared. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. It would have been completely dark if it wasn't for a hole in clouds, through which you could see the brilliant colors of the sunset. Beams of soft orange sunlight were somehow directed exactly on Ash and Misty. The sunlight sparkled as if someone had thrown an unmeasurable amount of shimmering glitter directly in its path. The light made the two glow softly. They stared, transfixed at the true unbelievibility and beauty of it all.

A strange feeling began washing over them. It was a mix of true love for each other and the feeling that something would soon test how strong that bond really was. For a split second they turned and looked into each other's eyes, almost feeling and thinking as one. 

But this sensation was only momentary, and as swiftly as it had had come it drained away, leaving not even a memory of those few wonderful seconds in its wake. They broke their gaze and looked back at the sky.

The great, dark, trembling clouds flooded the lone shaft of light, letting darkness finally reign. Another moist, chillingly cold gust of wind toyed with the trees branches, making them shudder and shake, as if in great fear of the great storm that was seemingly promised.

"We'd better at least try to get some sleep," said Misty, glancing in pity at Ash.

"Yep, I guess so…" Ash sighed. He gathered the few remaining leaves and clumped them into a pillow. He decided against taking off his hat and jacket, knowing it would get much colder and probably rain later. He took off his shoes and placed them in his backpack. He curled up in the dirt as Misty crawled into her sleeping bag. Pikachu and Togepi (who were all but forgotten) suddenly decided to be very affectionate, and both curled up with Ash in a feeble attempt to keep him warm. 

It was then the wind howled miserably, wailing and moaning and forcing the clouds to twirl and twist. It began to wring out the clouds of their moisture and rain started to patter slowly down. 

Ash curled up into an even tighter ball at feeling the tears from the sky soak through his clothes. Pikachu and Togepi, knowing they weren't helping any, and also not enjoying the wet weather, leapt into Ash's backpack and zipped it up, making it clear they had no intentions of sleeping in the rain. 

Misty had pulled herself fully into her sleeping bag so she wouldn't get wet, but still every few minutes she would peep her head out to look sadly at Ash. It was very heart wrenching for her seeing him wet and cold and shivering, curled into a tight ball in the hard dirt. 'But what could I do?' she thought miserably, watching the suddenly fierce wind tussle Ash's hair and clothes. 'In the middle of that thought, though, an almost unrelated thought came to her; 'Hmmm… I'm lucky this sleeping bag is pretty large…' Then in her mind the two clicked together, revealing the solution to her dilemma. It would be pretty squished, but Ash would fit…

"Ash?" Misty questioned shyly, but hopefully loud enough for Ash to hear over the whistling wind and pattering rain, which had turned from peaceful to ferocious in just minutes. He didn't answer. "Ash?" Misty repeated, this time louder.

"W-w-what M-Misty?" Ash asked with chattering teeth.

Another gust of wind whooshed out of nowhere, this time so strong Ash was almost blown away.

"Ash, you're gonna get blown away if you stay out there, get in here!" Misty said loudly over the storm's furious roaring. 

Ash had sat up and was staring in Misty's direction, blinking inquiringly.

In the darkness Misty couldn't see Ash, but she sensed his confusion. She sighed loudly, "do I have to explain everything to you? Get in my sleeping bag, and hurry up! I don't want you flying off into the sky before you repay me for my bike Ash Ketchum!" she said this almost playfully though, as if she were teasing him, so Ash couldn't decide if she was only kidding or not. But this question was answered swiftly by Misty's impatient, "Well, are you coming or not?"

Ash scrambled gratefully over to her. Both their faces were now redder than a ripe tomato, but the darkness hid this completely. Ash started to ask more questions, but decided against it.

Misty zipped open her sleeping bag, which unfortunately let a gust of chilled air in. Ash slid in, and as Misty expected, it was quite cramped. Ash zipped up the sleeping bag, and the next few moments were filled with a thick embarrassed silence. Ash was sopping wet, but still warm to the touch. So there they were, squished together like sardines in a can, blushing uncontrollably, completely silent. 

Ash broke the silence with an extremely nervous, "um…uh…thanks Misty…"

"Uh, Ash, you're welcome, but please do me this one little favor, okay?" Misty asked, obviously every bit as nervous as Ash. 

"Sure, what is it?" 

"Don't tell Tracey about this, I don't even want to know what he'd think if he knew we slept together while he was gone."

"Ugh, I know what you mean…" Ash said slowly, "he'd tease us to no end."

At the same time they realized how close their faces were (only about two inches apart) and decided it was unbearable, lying there, literally pressed together, staring directly into each others eyes, without blurting something out that would reveal how they really felt about each other. Their fear of rejection was so great they were very careful as to what they said and did. 

Then, also in unison, they attempted to turn over, resulting in two bonked heads. They began squirming around, trying desperately to get comfortable in the cramped space. This, in turn, resulted in one accidentally kicking or elbowing the other, and soon the used to be silence was filled with "owww…"s and "stop kicking me! "s and other things to that effect. Muffled giggling could be heard from Ash's backpack, but over the tremendous roaring of the storm it wasn't recognizable as giggling, but merely another noise adding to the commotion. 

After a few minutes the squirming subsided, but Ash and Misty were still far from comfortable. It was then Ash was hit with a good, yet totally embarrassing thought; 'if we put our arms around each other, we'll fit alot better.'

After a few seconds of internal debating, the possibility of being even slightly more comfortable won over the embarrassment. Ash cleared his throat unnecessarily (he didn't need to get Misty's attention, her face was less than three inches from his) and said shakily, "Uh, Misty, it might be a little more comfortable if we put our arms around each other…"

Even in the pitch-black darkness of the inside of the sleeping bag he could see her startlingly blue-green eyes widen. He began to say, "it was just a thought…"but directly after he began Misty said willingly, "Okay. Ya know Ash that was actually a pretty good idea." They then stiffly put their arms around each other. Misty gave a nervous giggle and said jokingly, "forget Tracey, what would Brock say about this?"

Ash gave a fake shudder and added slowly, "ummm…Misty, lets try not to think about that…" They both got a good, yet completely tense giggle at this comment but yet again the almost a conversation was ended abruptly by the fact that neither of them had anything interesting to say.

For quite a while they just lay there, listening intently to the thunderous sounds of the storm. After nearly a half-hour of the loud silence, Ash's eyelids began to droop. He slipped slowly into a deep sleep. Misty was still wide-awake though, thinking about Ash, and herself. 

Since almost the beginning of her journeying with Ash, Misty had felt very strongly for him. She knew it was love, at least. She felt almost as if it were stronger than love, if that was at all possible. There was definitely something between them, but she wondered if Ash noticed this. They were friends, that much she knew, but did Ash think of her as anymore than that? 

Thinking over the events of the day, she realized she had let a lot of things slip, and actually gotten a positive reaction from it. Ash had seemed slightly less argumentative and friendlier than usual. Could her dreams be finally coming true? Then there was the matter of that voice…it had said to admit to Ash…and disembodied voices should be trusted, right? Or at least they always are in movies…but that's Hollywood, this was real life. And what about the matter of when she once she awoke from fainting, she was sure Ash was hugging her? Why would he do that unless he loved her, too? Should she admit to Ash in the morning? She suddenly felt very bold. 

But then, she remembered what she had to lose. Her confidence dropped. If she admitted she loved Ash and he didn't feel the same way, it would ruin their friendship. That would be a crushing defeat… It was weird how a few simple words had the ability to completely ruin her life, or make her the happiest person on the planet. She had so much to lose and so much to gain. 

It was then that she decided that she would make a vow to herself, a vow to stay with Ash forever, no matter what happened. 

"Ash?" she whispered, seeing if he was awake. No response. "Good," she sighed and then whispered a little louder, "Pikachu? Are you awake?"

"Pika?" Pikachu inquired, voice muffled from the inside of the backpack.

"Could you please come out here?" Misty asked him pleadingly.

"Pi kachu!"

Misty couldn't understand what Pikachu was saying, but from the willing tone he used, she guessed that was a yes.

Pikachu unzipped Ash's backpack, and, after bracing himself to get wet, scampered over to Misty and Ash and leapt into the sleeping bag. He shook himself like a dog, showering Misty and the sleeping Ash (whom had long since dried off) with tiny droplets of rainwater.

"Pikachu! Stop that, you'll wake up Ash!" Misty scolded, but with a joking tone. 

"Pi? Pikachu…"Pikachu put his paw behind his head in embarrassment.

Misty then became serious. "Pikachu, you're going to be the witness of this promise I have to make to myself, okay?"

"Pika." Pikachu nodded solemnly. 

"But you can't tell Ash about this, okay?"

"Pika!" Pikachu saluted Misty in a promise. 

"Okay, ready for this?"

"Chu!"

"With Pikachu as my witness, I promise to stay with Ash forever, no matter what. That's it, I guess. But don't tell Ash, all right?"

"Pika!" Pikachu promised a second time. 

Pikachu then scrambled back to the backpack, jumped in, and zipped it up. 

As if sealing the promise, Misty gathered up her courage and kissed Ash gently on the cheek. Her confidence boosted by her promise, she then wrapped her arms around him and snuggled up close, resting her chin in the crook of his neck. She sighed blissfully, then fell into a deep sleep.

Nearby, a pair of glowing blue eyes watched.

Chapter Four: Final Preparations

The pair of eyes belonged to the creature. It had been following Ash and Misty since the dawn of the day, and it had been quite pleased at how they had reacted to the events it had caused. Maybe this would be simpler than it had thought… Suddenly realizing Misty had dozed off, it closed its eyes and focused its entire mind on the storm. It began to glow an eerie pink and started waving its tiny, three-toed, front paws like some strange magician. 

The air became thick, as if the storm had not yet broken. The murky clouds spun crazily, resembling a furious tornado. The rain stopped abruptly. Then, in less than the time it takes for a heart to beat, the storm disappeared completely, swallowed up by the soft pure blackness of a normal night. The booming sounds of the storm faded and transformed into the soft melodeous chirping of crickets, the supple, pleasant, occasional sound of a Hoot-Hoot cooing, and the other gentle sounds of the night.

The creature smiled at the rapid departure of the storm, pleased that its psychic powers were in no way weakened by their long phase of disuse. It looked around, deciding not to dry up the rainwater caused by the storm, knowing how much confusion that would cause Ash and Misty. Glancing around again, it admired the beauty of the night.

The stars and full moon had peeked their way hesitantly through the blackness of the night sky, creating a soft glow that flooded over everything that was in their view. At the tips of the sleek leaves of the many trees were tiny droplets of water that were filled with moonlight, making them look like shimmering stars in the darkness, like a reflection of the night sky. 

It sensed another mysterious presence, one that had an air of arrogance and majesty even more than its own. Its heart thudded wonderingly as it concentrated on the strange presence, trying to find a living creature to back up its presumption. Its eyes scanned the perimeter of the clearing, but it found only a snoozing Caterpie. It decided with an air of finality that it was not a solid presence, but more something in the air, something to come that only it could sense. 

It decided just to forget it for now, but to keep the thought in the back of its mind. First and foremost, it had to get its plan in action. 

It floated slowly over to the backpack that Pikachu and Togepi slept in and silently unzipped it. Pikachu's eyes opened slightly, but the creature rapidly sent hypnosis waves out of its eyes, sending the electric mouse back into dreamland. Then the creature placed its paw on Pikachu's head, again closing its eyes in concentration. It began the long and complicated task of linking its mind with Pikachu's. It needed to block certain memories and knowledge temporarily from his brain. It also needed to make it so Pikachu wouldn't wake up until a signal from its own mind told him to do so. After it had finished tweaking Pikachu's mind, it turned to Togepi. 'Hmmm…' it thought, 'Togepi can't do anything that would change the effects of the plan in any way, so I think I'll just leave him the way he is…'

Next it looked to the sleeping Ash and Misty. Of course, it wouldn't alter their minds in any way, but it had a lot of work to do on all of the pokemon's minds. Especially Charizard's…

It would be no problem to get to Misty's pokemon, but Ash's pokemon were a different story. Their pokeballs were on Ash's belt. It thought briefly about how it could access them, and momentarily thought of a plan. 

It then drifted over to Misty's red backpack, and opened it the same way it had opened Ash's, soundlessly. It gently picked up each of her four pokeballs containing Staryu, Psyduck, Poliwag, and Goldeen and placed them on the ground in front of it. It then tapped one and out came a snoring Psyduck. Subsequently it did the same thing to Psyduck as it had done to Pikachu, temporarily twisting the psychic duck's mind. It moved on to each of Misty's sleeping pokemon, doing the same thing to every one. When it finished this painstaking task, it tapped the each of the pokeballs, calling back each of the pokemon. Then, with as much care as when it had taken them out, placed them back in Misty's backpack. 

It turned to Ash and Misty and smiled at seeing them so close. It concentrated as hard as it could on thinking about Ash's pokeballs and the pokemon they contained. Then, before it could blink its large blue eyes, the pokeballs were floating in front of its face. It had teleported them. It did the same thing to Ash's sleeping pokemon as it had done to Pikachu and Misty's pokemon. Until it came to Charizard. It knew quite well that erasing certain memories from the fire dragon's mind, even temporarily, would have devastating effects. Just what it needed…It sent out Charizard with a tap and got to work. It erased nearly every memory and instinct in his brain, all except the fighting instinct. It then strengthened that instinct, kindling it to be the only thing Charizard would be able to think of. It called back Charizard, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Tauros, and Snorlax, all sleeping soundly, with a tap to their pokeballs. Then it teleported them back where they belonged. It glanced piteously at Ash and Misty, knowing how much they would go through tomorrow. 'But it's for the best,' it reassured itself. It had no more pokemon minds to tweak, so it flew swiftly off to another part of the forest, where another big part of its plan wandered helplessly. 

Team Rocket. Jessie, James, and Meowth had not the faintest clue that they were part of any plan (except for their own brand new, overly complex plan to capture Pikachu), yet they were very important if this plan was to succeed. All they had to do was come and try to steal Pikachu, something that was basically second nature to them, so all the creature had to do was make sure they were close enough to Ash and Misty's camp. It found them about a fifteen-minute walk away.

'Perfect,' thought the creature, as it watched them.

Meowth walked in the lead, followed closely by Jessie and James. Meowth held a large map and was staring intently at it. 

"Meowth, where are we?" whined James, "I wanna go to bed, it's almost three o'clock!"

"Stop whining!" Jessie protested, "don't be such a baby!"

Meowth then yawned loudly, quite obviously exaggerating. "C'mon Jessie, I'm tired too."

Jessie was about to object, but the creature (whom Team Rocket didn't know was there) sent light hypnosis waves over to her, making her suddenly feel sleepy. They couldn't get any closer to Ash and Misty before morning, or the plan would be ruined.

"All right," Jessie sighed tiredly with none of her usual authority.

James and Meowth sighed in relief.

They whipped out their sleeping bags and within moments had fallen asleep.

The creature then went back to Ash and Misty. The plan was all ready. 

'Now, time for me to get some well deserved sleep…' the creature thought happily as it curled up on a hidden pine branch. It only had about an hour, maybe two before it had to get up again, but it cherished every moment of sleep it got. 

The forest pokemon, though, were very restless that long night. They all knew some thing was terribly wrong, something besides the appearance of this strange pokemon. Something besides its devious plans. They could sense it. And everyone knows that pokemon's senses are never wrong. Never.

Chapter Five: A New Day

The day started out completely normal.

The sun rose, flooding everything in a bright, cheerful light. The few wild pokemon that had actually fallen asleep awoke at feeling the gentle caress of the sun's warmth. The many Pidgey gathered in trees to coo ceremoniously at the arrival of another day. The apprehension of the night had lifted and the forest pokemon got back to their busy, unorganized lives with enthusiasm. 

Ash awoke at the break of dawn. Being a typical kid, he didn't want to wake up, so he just kept his eyes tightly shut. After a few minutes of lying there with his eyes shut, though, he realized that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so he began to think. 

He wasn't even close to fully awake though, and he wasn't at all unaware of his surroundings. He couldn't really feel either, nothing but warmth. He knew if he moved, even slightly, he would be dragged unwillingly back to the world of the awake, so he stayed completely still. He wanted to stay in his dream, even though it had already left (or at least he thought) It had been a good, exciting one. Something about Tracey flying away on a Pidgeot, Misty fainting, a storm, and himself having to sleep with Misty because Tracey had accidentally taken his sleeping bag. Then he suddenly realized that that was too real to be a dream, he remembered it too well…something was very fishy here… There was only one way to find out whether that was only a dream or not, and that was to wake up. 

He decided that he would have to take the risk that it was only a dream, and he slowly opened his eyes. And there, hugging him and asleep, was Misty. Actually the first thing he saw was her ponytail, but it was undeniably Misty. She was cuddled up to him, really, really close. She had her arms around him, and her head was resting on his shoulder. He felt many emotions at once, causing him to become confused. But eventually he sorted most of them out. He was relieved that it wasn't a dream, embarrassed because, well, Misty was actually hugging him (not the stiff-armed 'let's put our arms around each other to save room' thing he had suggested last night), undeniably in love with her, puzzled at WHY Misty was hugging him, and a million other indescribable emotions. When he thought about it though, he decided that probably the only reason was hugging him like she was was that she had gotten cold during the night and had unconsciously huddled up to him because he was warm. His heart sank slightly at that thought, knowing if he had a reasonable explanation for her to hug him he couldn't even hope it was because she was being affectionate.

Ash desperately wanted to get up, and for a moment he glanced around, unsure of what to do. Then Misty murmured something softly in her sleep ("What are you talking about Pikachu?" or something like that) and he lovingly glanced at her. He couldn't wake her up, he just couldn't. In an act of love, he moved a little closer to her and pretended to be asleep, keeping as still as he possibly could. He lay there quietly for just under an hour before Misty's eyes fluttered open. He panicked mentally, caught completely off guard. Not knowing what else to do, he played dead. 

Upon awakening, Misty, suddenly realizing she was still clinging to Ash, gingerly unwrapped her arms from around him and scooted back to the far end of the sleeping bag (which wasn't all the far) 

"Ash? Are you awake?" she questioned sleepily. 

"No," Ash responded flatly, burying his face in the single pillow him and Misty shared. 

"Ash! That was a yes or nothing question! You can't say no! If you were actually asleep you wouldn't have answered!" Misty giggled scoldingly.

But Ash had seemingly fallen back asleep, so Misty poked him on the shoulder, knowing that he wasn't really asleep. He didn't respond. Misty was determined to get him to admit to being awake, though. She wriggled herself out of the sleeping bag with some difficulty, and stubbornly pulled the pillow out from under his head. His head fell limply to the ground, but he still insisted on playing dead. 

"So you want to play that way, do you?" Misty asked, beaming evilly, though not really expecting an answer, "well then, TAKE THIS!" Misty started madly tickling Ash. Misty knew that this was Ash's weakness, and he immediately burst out laughing, unable to control it. He curled up, trying to escape the wrath of Misty. 

"Okay, Okay, I'm up, I'm up!" Ash surrendered while laughing, "just stop tickling me!" Misty backed off and Ash got up as he promised. But Misty was still grinning wickedly and Ash shot her a wary glance. 

"What are you still smiling about?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Misty said, trying to be serious though she was quite obviously stifling a giggle, then, at the last minute added, "except …THIS!"

She leapt forward and began tickling him some more. They both started laughing really hard, and (as one might expect) they eventually lost their balance. Actually, Ash tripped over a stick and since he was caught completely off guard, he was unable to regain his composure. He flailed about for something to hold onto, and since Misty was the closest thing to him he ended up grabbing her arm, sending her down with him. They landed in each other's arms and for a moment there was silence. It was quickly was shattered though, as Ash and Misty's giggling resumed. After a while the giggling died down though and both trainers blushed and got up silently. 

"So what are we going to do today?" Misty asked Ash.

"Hmmm…how 'bout we go searching for pokemon!" Ash answered enthusiastically.

"Okay." Misty agreed, wondering why she had even asked that question when she already knew what Ash was going to say. 

Ash began to skip happily out of the field but turned back and said, "wait a minute. Something's missing…"

"Maybe Pikachu?" Misty suggested cheerfully.

"Yeah, that's it! Hey, where is Pikachu anyway? He's usually up by now…"

"He's in your backpack with Togepi Ash, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" With that he strolled back over to his backpack and opened it. Pikachu and Togepi were still snoozing soundly. "Hey Pikachu, time to wake up!" he said to no avail. Pikachu still snored quietly. Ash picked up the yellow ball of fuzz and gently shook him. Still no response except a small "chaaa…." That was only a snore. 

"Hey Misty, Pikachu isn't waking up!" Ash told her worriedly.   
"Well leave him alone then! He's probably still tired from yesterday."

"Okay," Ash said while setting Pikachu tenderly back down in his green backpack. During the process Togepi had awakened and he was now reaching out to Ash and chirping happily. Misty walked over and scooped Togepi up. Ash put on his backpack, still containing Pikachu, and they set off deeper into the forest.

It took only a moment to realize the search was fruitless. The forest was dangerously close to silence and the few times they did spot a pokemon, it was only a fleeting glance. 

This time they both felt the strange presence. It buzzed through their minds, dimming all of their senses considerably. They could feel how close it was, how it hovered around them. They could feel its tenseness, its nervous, wavering hope. But they also could feel how it knew everything would be all right. It was only nervous because of the emotion it knew it would see. It hated to cause pain, even if it was for the better. The last time it had caused pain, sadness had overwhelmed it. Just because it could tell how things would turn out didn't mean it didn't feel for what was happening in the current moment. In fact, its being psychic magnified its emotions one hundred times. It was a very emotional creature. They could hear its heart thudding, slowly and quietly at first, but gradually getting louder and faster. After merely about five minutes the thudding got so loud and was so fast that it became one big constant booming, getting louder and louder by the second until it was unbearable. Then it stopped and the hypnosis it had caused ceased and Ash and Misty snapped out of it.

They had stopped walking long ago and for a moment they just stood silently, daring not to breathe. But finally they had no choice but to breathe or they would black out, so at the same time they both drew in a terrified, trembling breath. 

Ash, eyes bugged out in shock, looked at Misty. Seeing she was looking as scared as he felt, he asked slowly, "You felt that weird presence too, didn't you?"

She nodded slowly and told him unsteadily, "now you know how I felt when I fainted yesterday, only this time whatever it was didn't talk…Ash, something really weird is going on here… I-I'm scared… Something is terribly wrong…." She instinctively moved closer to him. 

"Yeah," Ash simply agreed to all of her last statements, "lets keep moving…"

They started hesitantly walking forward, eyes nervously scanning the forest around them. Shafts of sunlight shone through the dense overgrowth, piercing the dim shade. I was quite a foreboding setting. 

A stifled, angry "pika chuuu!" came from Ash's backpack and Misty commented, "sounds like Pikachu woke up, Ash, and he doesn't sound too happy about being stuck in that backpack!"

"Hmmm?" Ash questioned even though he had heard her, "Oh, okay, I better get him outta there." He took off his backpack and promptly zipped it open. Pikachu looked up at him with such a look of confusion and anger that Ash almost dropped the backpack in alarm. 

"What's wrong Pikachu?" he asked him breathlessly. Pikachu's cheeks sparked and with a furious "CHUUUUU!!!!!" he gave a giant Thunderbolt to Ash. Ash, needless to say, was quite charred. 

"Ash! Are you okay?" Misty said worriedly, moving even closer to him than she had already been.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just worried about Pikachu, he's never acted this way before…" Ash then gave her a weak smile that was supposed to be encouraging, but in truth was quite disheartening.

At hearing this Pikachu crossed his arms and stubbornly gave Ash another small Thundershock. 

Misty became even more worried about both Ash and Pikachu at this gesture, but she decided not to say anything. She looked down fearfully at Togepi, who had fallen asleep again.

"Pi pikachuuuu pikaaaa chuuu!!!" Pikachu yelled angrily and suddenly leaped out of the backpack and ran swiftly but slightly awkwardly off into the dark depths of the wood. 

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted anxiously at his retreating friend, before taking off after him. Misty followed. 

For about an hour they ran all over the forest calling Pikachu's name to no effect. Finally, tired and breathless, they decided that this wasn't going to work since they had not the faintest clue where in this huge forest he was. They sat down in the slightly damp dirt back to back, tears threatening to spill over. 

"What could have come over him?" Ash wondered miserably aloud.

"It probably had to do with that strange presence…" Misty sniffed, "this is getting too weird…I mean if Pikachu left you who knows what'll happen next..."

"Don't say that! He'd never leave me…" Ash said in defense, but then added uneasily, "…would he?" Tears were visibly forming in his eyes and a lump was developing in his throat. 

Misty turned around so she was sitting right next to him and put her arm around his shoulders. "I'm sure he'd never run away on purpose, Ash, he probably just got scared of whatever has been following us the last two days…He'll probably come back when he calms down," Misty reassured him, but the sorrowful look on her face told otherwise.

"But Misty, you didn't see the look on his face, it wasn't just fear, it was anger and confusion, too…It was like he didn't even recognize me."

Misty purposefully kept silent. Instead of answering she just tightened her grip on Ash.

"I wonder what he's doing right now, he's probably scared to death." Ash said sadly, distractedly sketching Pikachu in the dirt with his finger, "if only we knew where he was…"

All of the sudden a familiar voice rang out, loud and clear. "Looking for your precious electric rat, twerp?"

Chapter Six: A Twist of Fate

Both Ash and Misty stood up swiftly and glanced around for whoever had asked this startling question. Then, jumping excitedly out of the bushes appeared who else but the bumbling Team Rocket Trio. And sitting unhappily in Jessie's arms was a bedraggled, out of breath Pikachu. James opened his smirking mouth to say something undoubtedly insulting, but Jessie whacked him on the head with a paper fan and yelled at him, "James! We haven't said the motto yet!"

"But Jessie, I think the motto's cursed or unlucky or something, because every time we say it we fail!" James whined in protest, but shut his mouth promptly when Jessie eyed him and held the paper fan over her head, ready to swing. 

"Eh-hem, as we were saying…" Jessie firmly said, directing it more at James, who was now whimpering like a frightened puppy, than at her audience. With that they began reciting their newly revised motto.

"Prepare for pika trouble!"

"Chu make that double!"

"To give Pikachu to the boss!"

"To protect him from harm at all costs!"

"To make him use his Thundershock!"

"So we can round up pokemon by the flock!"

"A victorious Jessie!"

"A terrified James…" At this point Jessie whacked James on the face with her fan and he yelped in fear.

"Team Rocket's the best without a doubt!"

"Took you too long to figure that out!"

All of the sudden Meowth popped out of the nearest bush and declared triumphantly "Meeeeeeowth! Dats right!"

Ash leapt up and ran towards Team Rocket at seeing his friend in danger. "Pikachu! Are you okay buddy?" He yelled worriedly. Pikachu looked at him strangely, cocking his black-tipped ears in confusion. Eyes glinting in anger, Pikachu began struggling, trying desperately to squirm free from Jessie's grip. Of course Jessie was wearing rubber gloves, but Pikachu, who was obviously in a queer stupor, either ignored the fact that rubber doesn't conduct electricity or had in fact somehow forgotten, because his next attempt for freedom was a powerful Thunderbolt, which didn't affect Jessie in the least. "That's not gonna work! Pikachu, bite her on the arm!" Ash commanded. Pikachu just sat there though, blinking inquiringly at Ash. "Pikachu, listen to me!" Ash said distraughtly. Pikachu simply looked at him like he was crazy and continued struggling. Ash hastily decided that he would deal with Pikachu later, first and foremost he had to get him back from Team Rocket's clutches. 

"Let's battle!" Ash challenged Team Rocket, as he always did, "For Pikachu, winner gets him, loser doesn't!" He declared bravely.

"But Ash! What if you lose?" Misty shouted from the sidelines.

"Don't worry Misty, this is Team Rocket we're talking about here!"

Jessie, James, and Meowth all glared at him. "We're not THAT incompetent!" They complained altogether.

"Do you guys accept my challenge?" Ash asked impatiently.

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice," Jessie sighed.

"Okay, then GO BULBASAUR!" Ash said strongly while hurling Bulbasaur's pokeball into the air. The pokeball popped open in midair and light flooded out of it. The bright light materialized into a pokemon on the field. Much to Ash's dismay Bulbasaur was…SLEEPING?! "W-wha?" Ash stuttered, then, gritting his teeth, yelled to the sleeping pokemon "Bulbasaur, time to wake up! This is no time for a nap!" No response except for a small nose bubble rising and falling with Bulbasaur's breath. "Fine then! Bulbasaur, return!" He held out the pokeball and Bulbasaur dissolved back into a bright light and went back into the pokeball. "Then… GO SQUIRTLE!" Out came Squirtle, and before the tough turtle could even materialize Ash ordered him to use a Skull Bash on Jessie. 

Jessie then realized what a disadvantage she was at without a pokemon out. "Okay then, GO ARBOK!" The large purple cobra uncoiled himself and hissed "chaaabok!" 

But when Squirtle finally became visible, he too was sleeping soundly. Of course Ash was quite surprised at having not one, but two of his pokemon asleep. Misty as well had a dumbfounded look on her face. 

Arbok started slithering his silent way over to the curled up Squirtle but Ash happened to glance on to the battlefield (well, actually it was a large patch of grass, but it served as their battlefield) and notice Arbok's sinister approach. He held out the pokeball just in time. "Squirtle, return! Hmmm… who can I send out now?" He questioned himself, "Well, Tauros, go!" He was quickly losing enthusiasm for this match. When Ash saw that Tauros too was sleeping like a log also, he decided that he should at least try a little harder to wake him up or soon he would be out of pokemon. He ran over to the sleeping bull pokemon and gently shook him. "C'mon Tauros, you gotta wake up!" The bull pokemon didn't react. "Okay, fine then…" he sighed as he called Tauros back. 

Team Rocket was getting very impatient and Jessie yelled sourly, "Hurry up!" then mumbled under her breath, "shows what kind of trainer he is…" 

"I know this is kinda pointless, but go Snorlax!" Ash said without his usual eagerness. "I'll save Charizard for last…" he muttered to Misty, even though he doubted she could hear him. But apparently she had, because she offered to let Ash use her pokemon if all of his were sleeping. Of course Snorlax was asleep (BIG surprise!) and Ash recalled him quickly, knowing you could almost never wake up a Snorlax if it was asleep unless you had a pokeflute or it was hungry, neither of which were about to come true. 

Ash took his last untouched pokeball and pressed the button that enlarged it. With a little beeping noise it became the size of his palm. It was cool and smooth on the outside, even though it housed one of the hottest pokemon in the world (no pun intended). With a single flame from his mouth you could melt a boulder instantaneously. Ash knew of the true power his fire dragon possessed. Charizard had learned to obey him only weeks ago. Knowing Charizard could hear him even from inside his pokeball, he began talking to him. "Charizard, you're my last-" Misty cleared her throat. "Well, almost my last hope of getting Pikachu back from Team Rocket. Please do your very best. And please don't be asleep…" He then looked back up at Arbok, who, in his boredom, had begun busily chasing his tail. Then he commanded with renewed enthusiasm, "GO CHARIZARD!!!" He threw the pokeball into the air. Ash noticed with a small amount of alarm the light that was the unmaterealized Charizard seemed much brighter than usual when it flooded out of the momentarily floating pokeball. Charizard appeared in front of Arbok, flexing his muscles aggressively. Ash didn't know it, but he was extremely lucky that Charizard had not come out facing him. Charizard gave out a massive angry roar and, without a command from Ash, he thrust back his head and threw it forward again, opening his mouth as flames began spewing from it in an immense Flamethrower. Needless to say, Arbok was fried instantly. 

Jessie swiftly called back Arbok and, eyes wide in fear, said "James, let's get out of here! Something's wrong with that Charizard, his eyes are glowing red! Here, take your Pikachu, we'll steal him some other time!" With that she dropped Pikachu on the ground, grabbed James and Meowth, and ran off in the other direction. But the enraged Charizard would have no fleeing from battle. He lifted his emerald wings and flew off swiftly in their direction. He landed straight in their path, stopping them cold in their tracks. By now Jessie, James, and Meowth were positively terrified and James was whimpering and whining "I don't want to die!" hysterically over and over again. Jessie and Meowth just stared open-mouthed at the great flame dragon in front of them, who was returning their gaze with a cold glare. 

All Ash and Misty could do was gape in horror at how Charizard was acting. Pikachu was in shock (again, no pun intended) and he just stood his ground, staring with eyes as wide as marbles at Charizard's colossal new-found power. 

Charizard gave a wry grin to his victims and swung his tail powerfully at them. Team Rocket went sailing into the sky, and right before they disappeared from sight a faint "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" could be heard if you strained your ears. *Ding! * 

Team Rocket defeated, with a shaking hand Ash held up Charizard's pokeball and ordered firmly "Charizard, return!" Charizard wouldn't have any of this though. Wrinkling his nose stubbornly, he sent out another powerful Flamethrower in the woods surrounding him. The towering, ancient trees caught fire and loud crackling filled the air. The great trees popped and sparked, sending small balls of fire flying through the atmosphere, setting more trees on fire. The air became thick and murky with smoke.

Ash and Misty began coughing loudly, trying to clear their lungs of the sudden grit. Misty, in between fits of coughing, yelled to Ash over the crackling of the fire, "Ash, we need to get out of here! We're gonna get killed!" 

Ash faintly heard her and he answered "I won't leave without Pikachu and Charizard!"

Misty knew Ash would undeniably get killed if he stayed in this smoke much longer, as would she, but she also knew that once Ash decided something like this, he wouldn't take no for an answer. She wouldn't let that happen. She stumbled her way over to him as fast as she could, but she was blinded by smoke and the tears in her eyes from the stinging smog. The heat of the nearby flames was suppressing. It was extremely hard to breathe in the heavy smoke, and Misty gasped for air as she staggered through the drab grayness of the haze. She could see Ash's indistinct form a few feet away, a very encouraging sight. A large stick stood in her path, but unfortunately she couldn't see it as she was currently focusing on Ash. She tripped on it clumsily, falling with a soft thud that was silent over the muted roaring of the flames licking angrily at the trees. Ash saw her fall slightly, but he couldn't reach her due to the trance that not being able to breathe created. The dirt was cool and smooth, a relief to her stinging skin. The air was also slightly clearer down here than it was at her full height, and she realized vaguely that she would rather stay down here in the coolness of the soil and be consumed by the livid flames than to return to the pain above her. Her mind was drifting away, and she went into a daze where nothing seemed to exist except what was going on in her stupefied brain, choked by lack of air. She was happy here in this abstraction, so happy…she didn't want to leave. But then her mind wandered to Ash in a final attempt to bring her back, and her mind began to function again and she was sucked back into living reality. She wouldn't leave Ash, nothing could make her. In a valiant effort she opened her singed eyes and pulled herself up onto her knees, then to her feet. She felt sticks and stones poke painfully into her palms and knees, but it was nothing compared to her struggle to breathe and think clearly. The air was so much thicker up here, and she struggled for breath in the hot stifling smog. But still she pressed on, struggling her way finally to the dazed Ash. She grabbed his hand and with her final remaining strength, pulled him towards the open air beyond the enraged flames. He murmured, "Misty…" very softly, but then fell back into silence. Misty didn't have the strength to respond. A small hole in the flames greeted her aching eyes and she continued pulling Ash along with her. Ash was walking behind her, but numbly, as if both of his feet were asleep. His grip on her hand was weak, but firm enough to keep him from slipping away. Closer and closer towards the opening they limped and after an extended two minutes, they reached it. Misty stepped gingerly over the tiny flames that crackled in the stubby grass and they were free of the terrible fire. Both of them inhaled the cool clear air deeply, and sighed in relief that they had the luck to have gotten out of that alive, but then started coughing again from the seemingly ice cold air. Reality didn't fully hit them, though, until they looked back at the smoldering forest behind them.

Smoke rose in smudgy columns from the blackened trees, the trees that only moments ago had been green giants hovering harmlessly above them. Pikachu and Charizard were no longer there, and Togepi was somehow still sleeping throughout this whole ordeal. Misty had completely and totally forgotten about him, but had instinctually held onto him. At that instant, she remembered him and became suddenly very worried about him. "Togepi! How did you stay asleep throughout this whole thing? When I fell and everything? Oh, I'm so sorry! I promise never to forget you again!" she crooned to the sleeping egg pokemon, while wild visions of all the terrible things that could possibly have happened to him raced across her mind. She tightened her grip on him and began talking to Ash. 

"Ash, now I'm sure of it. Something is terribly wrong. We've gotta get out of here, and fast, before anything else can happen."

"But Misty, how are we going to find our way out? We're way far away from anything, except trees."

At that last simple sentence, Misty realized that they weren't out of the danger zone yet, and any minute the trees surrounding them would catch fire. 

"Ash, come on, we've got to get going, now! These trees are going to catch fire, too, very soon!"

Ash gave her a glance that had a hint of sadness, but it was something else, too, something she couldn't quite pinpoint. "You go on then."

Misty looked at him like he was crazy and yelled, "what are you talking about? I'm not leaving without you."

"And I'm not leaving without Pikachu and Charizard. They're my friends. I can't just let them get burnt to death."

"But Ash, you'll get killed! There's no way you can go back in there and come out alive!"

"Misty, I'm going in and you or nobody else can stop me!"

Misty sighed. She knew there was no way she could persuade him not to go. 'But that's one of the things I love about Ash,' she told herself, 'he always puts others before himself.' 

With that Ash turned and walked bravely toward the flames. He stopped right before the same hole they had come through and turned to say "and don't follow me!" Then he walked through it, entering the ablaze world of heat and smoke. Heat waves shimmered in front and behind him, abstracting Misty's view of him. 

"Good luck." She said to him quietly, though she knew he was far out of earshot. "You'd better come out of there alive, Ash Ketchum." She slumped down on the ground to wait, kind of overwhelmed by all of this. "If he doesn't come out in fifteen minutes, Togepi, we're going in to search for him, no matter what he says." 

"Pikachu! Charizard! Where are you?!" Ash called into the booming grayness. He was inaudible over the sounds of the fire, but still he called, hoping desperately for an answer. But there was none. He didn't know it, but Pikachu had long ago fled the flames. Yet Charizard was still in there, somewhere, but at the moment, Charizard could care less whether Ash found him or not. He was still blinded by anger, anger that came from nowhere, anger that had no purpose.

"C'mon you guys, answer me! Please…." Ash was getting weaker every time he called; however he refused to stop shouting. After a time he fell into the same strange abstraction Misty had been in earlier, he fell in the cool dirt, and wished to stay there. The flames were creeping their way slowly closer to him. Every moment he was falling swiftly deeper into unconsciousness, closer to death, and somehow, Misty sensed this.

Chapter Seven: Back Into the Flames

"Togepi, we've gotta go back in there. Ash hasn't come out yet. He could be hurt." She looked at the now awake Togepi. "But I don't want you to suffocate, so you're going to walk behind me, since there's more air down there, okay?" Togepi looked back up at her with a look of unusual seriousness. Somehow he understood the urgency of the situation. Looking at him, though, she realized how easily he could get lost in the thick consistency of the smoke. She sighed, suddenly disheartened by the near hopelessness of the circumstances, and said miserably "Oh Togepi, what am I going to do? I have to find Ash, he's the best friend I've ever had, and a whole lot more. But what if I don't? What will I do then? I can't lose him, I just can't." She was near tears, and Togepi could feel her frustration. He toddled over and placed a tiny hand on her shoe. Though he didn't understand what exactly was happening, he had a feeling it had to do with the disappearance of the one he believed to be his dad into the shiny moving stuff. 

"Briii…."He trilled quietly. She lifted her head and her eyes were directed to what the little egg was pointing at. Her shoelaces. "That's it Togepi, that's it! You're a genius!" She scooped up Togepi and hugged him, then set him down and untied one of her shoe's laces. Then she handed the untied shoelace to him. "Hold onto this and walk behind me. Don't worry, I'll be sure to walk slowly." He gripped it and nodded determinedly. Misty took a few hesitant steps toward the flaming clump of trees, glancing back over her shoulder to check on Togepi every step. When she finally determined that he could keep up with her pace and he wasn't going to slow her down, she refrained from inspecting him every stride. He stepped forward quickly with an uncanny confidence. Yet when Misty, with Togepi in tow, reached the gap in the blazing trees, she found that flames had consumed it. They would have to find another way in. But when she tried to tear her eyes from the flames, she found she couldn't. She just stood there, eyes glued to the slowly flickering flames. They moved in a brilliant, beautiful dance to nonexistent music. It was so slow and rhythmic, it was hypnotizing her. She just wanted to stay there forever, to never move again. It was in a sense like when a frightened animal gets caught in the glare of approaching headlights, the light paralyzes them, and no matter how hard they try to turn away, they just can't. But she didn't want to move. Then she felt something knock against her leg, and that brought her back to her senses. She looked down to see her beloved baby pokemon, pointing urgently towards the flaming mass. "Oh, thanks Togepi. Let's go find Ash." She examined the perimeter of the clump of trees and finally found a small opening on the far side. She strolled over there, and got down on her hands and knees to crawl through the tiny opening. She took a deep breath, and looked again back at Togepi. Now that he was closer to the flames, he didn't look nearly as confident as he did a little while ago. She sighed, "well Togepi, this is it…we're going to find Ash or…." She didn't want to add 'die trying,' it was too depressing, even thinking that this could be the last time she ever saw anything that wasn't completely devastated. 'But remember, this is for Ash,' she thought resolutely, ' I would do anything for him.' She remembered quite well how she had proven this. She had jumped into the frozen sea to save him from drowning when he had fallen off Lugia. 'And this isn't much different.' She told herself. With an encouraging nod to Togepi, who was visually getting more scared by the minute, she proceeded inching slowly forward, ignoring the sharp pricks in her palms of small stones embedded in the soft soil. She felt a foreboding, frightened prickle go down her spine as she felt the warmth of the adjacent flames surround her. The warmth had a kind of remoteness to it that made her feel completely alone, and had her wishing desperately that Ash was there. 'But of course I wouldn't be doing this if he was here.' She reminded herself, and went back to focusing on where she was going and looking for Ash. Her original plan was that she was going to stand up once she got through the hole, but she realized that it would be much smarter to stay on her hands and knees. Her surroundings were a dim, pastel-like gray. Even the light from the shining flames couldn't penetrate the murk of the smoke. She could see the hazy glow of them all around, but they gave off no light to guide her by. She could see shapes up to a few feet in front of her, however they were little more than indistinct shadows. The tall trees were no more than blurry shading in the fogginess of the smoke. Towards the tops the dark shade of the trees would fade into the constant grayness that enclosed all. Togepi was indisputably terrified, but at the same time he had that young curiosity that kept him going. Peering through the fog, she saw a large shape begin to form about twenty feet away from her. At first she was surprised she could see something that far away, but then she realized that the object, whatever it was, was quite large. Her breath caught in her throat. "Who's there?" She questioned the dark object, "Is that you, Ash?" But a movement from the shadow quickly answered her question. It turned a large head around. Its eyes glowed with such a strong blood red light that it shone through the deep murk. Misty felt a chill of fear crawl down her spine. Not far from the frightening shadow a tall flame hovered in midair. "Oh…." She trembled, voice wavering in shock, "no, no…." Suddenly she felt an overwhelming fleeing instinct envelope her. She _had _to run. But her feet weren't responding to her mindless pleas, it was as if her feet were planted in the ground, as if they were heavier than any human was possible of lifting. She gaped at Charizard, feeling more fear course through her body than she had ever felt in her entire life. Her legs turned to some gelatin-like substance, and she fell to the ground, shaking so hard that she couldn't move on her own, no matter how hard she tried. She felt a sob escape her throat. She thought that she felt a distant rumble shake the ground, but she decided it was only her own panicking mind overreacting. She felt a small body, covered in a shell, hug her leg tightly and heard a faint whimper. Tears of bitter sadness seeped uncontrollably out of her eyes. She took a deep trembling breath, then, with every ounce of strength in her entire body, yelled "ASH!!!" She didn't know where that last call for help came from, but she immediately regretted it when Charizard's eyes, like smoldering coals, flashed intensely. With a terrorizing patience, he began to make his way towards his helpless victim. 

Yet, a few hundred yards away, Ash had heard her call. He had been millimeters away from death when the familiar voice had shattered his strange, unconscious dreams. At first when he had been dragged back into reality, he had told himself distractedly, vaguely, that whoever had disturbed his peace was going to pay. But then his conscious mind came back to him and he thought quickly, 'Misty's in trouble!' He dragged himself up to his feet, and felt a strange pain engulf him. It was a burning sensation, like he had just been dragged out of a cool calmness into this feverish heat. He stumbled a few feet, but was staggering so badly that he kept falling into the ground, that was now searing with heat. He wanted so badly to just let go, to let himself die, the pain was so devastating. 'Why keep going?' he asked himself, 'there's nothing but pain anymore.' Then he remembered what had prevented him from plummeting into death. The ground was blistering his hands and knees, but he was too absorbed in thought to notice. Misty. He couldn't just let her die; he couldn't just give up on her. He decided then that no matter what he had to press on and live, and above all save Misty. All of the sudden, he realized how much he loved and needed Misty. She had always been there for him, always stayed by his side. He remembered all that they had been through, and recognized that they had been in love all along. It didn't matter that they had never said 'I love you' to each other before, they had both felt it, and that was really all that mattered. He didn't know what told him so definitely that she felt the same way, but somehow he did know it for sure. He pulled himself up onto his feet, and, ignoring the pain, stumbled into a run in the direction Misty's voice had come from. 

The next few moments went in slow motion for Misty. Charizard was walking towards Togepi and herself, looking so patiently furious it was terrifying. His eyes seemed so hot it was as if just a glance from him could melt anything. He was glaring directly into Misty's eyes, with a look of such blind anger that it was almost sad. Scared stiff and doomed though she was, Misty's compassionate side got the better of her and she couldn't help but feel bad for Charizard. Whatever he had been through to be this enraged had to be pretty bad. In a last, pitiful attempt to save herself, she tried using her natural gift for calming pokemon to soothe Charizard. "Charizard, what are you so mad about? What could have happened to you to make you this way? Ash always takes wonderful care of his pokemon, he loves them. Don't you remember when you were a Charmander, when Ash, Brock, and I came to save you from your tail flame going out in the rain? Or how about when you got frozen by that Poliwrath and Ash stayed with you the whole night, trying so hard to warm you up? That was when you decided you'd obey him. What could have possibly made you change your mind?" Misty pleaded with all the emotion she could muster. She could see how hard he was trying to remember, and she wondered aloud, carefully attempting to keep her voice sounding uncomplaining, "Why can't you remember?" Charizard squeezed his eyes tightly shut, searching his brain for any of these memories, but he found none. Every time he tried to remember anything from the past his mind would blank out. This girl seemed slightly familiar to him, though. He shook his head, suddenly opening his reddened eyes. This wasn't time for him to play guessing games with his intended victim. Yet her words haunted him. Why was he so mad? Every time he advanced on her, he considered turning around quite seriously. He was puzzled into complete confusion. Where had he come from? Why was he so mad at everything? How come he couldn't remember his past, but this somehow memorable girl acted as if she could? Then the anger welled up again, and his confusion was pushed aside. He spit a large burst of flames from his mouth and told her with his eyes that she could never persuade him not to kill her. Misty gave a small whimper as Charizard lifted his jade wings and pushed off of the ground to glide towards her. 

She couldn't turn away from his eyes as he drifted almost lazily towards her. 'I never even got to tell Ash….' She thought with a sadness that was so incredibly deep that it was completely numbing and she felt as if her heart would burst. Great tears rolled down her cheeks and burst into tiny spurts of steam on the splinteringly hot ground. 

Charizard sold her some time and broke her terrified gaze into his eyes though, because he lifted his wings and soared in wide circles around her for a while. Then he backed up, still in the air, and rushed towards her. He was about twenty feet from her when she saw a figure leap awkwardly out of the bushes and stand in the path of the rampaging dragon. She blinked the tears from her eyes and squinted them to try to see who it was. The figure was very familiar and she could make out a pokemon league hat over messy black hair. It was Ash! "Ash!" she yelled to him, "get out of the way!" But she was too late. Eyes incredibly wide and slightly in shock, Misty watched helplessly as Charizard crashed headfirst into her beloved Ash in a tremendous Skull Bash. Her first frantic thought was to go to Ash, who was sprawled out on the ground next to her, but then she realized that Charizard now had his eyes focused on her and he was heading straight towards her. She reached to her back pocket for one of the pokeballs she had brought with her. "Staryu, go!" she called, stifling a cough as she did so. Staryu popped out and gave a determined "Hya!" 

"Staryu, Water Gun Charizard, and hurry!"

Staryu nodded its top point and quickly squirted water out of it. The stream of water hit its mark, but Staryu was quickly knocked out when Charizard speedily used a Body Slam on it. Charizard wasn't even weakened from the brief shower. Misty's mind was racing, but she didn't even have time to react to Staryu's getting knocked out when Togepi suddenly leapt out from behind her, looking very angry. 

"Togepi?" Misty questioned quietly, now completely in shock. 

Much to her surprise, Togepi gave a loud, infuriated trill while his eyes followed Charizard, who had again taken to the air. If it were not such a life and death matter, it would have been quite a funny scene. The tiny baby pokemon standing there, eyes locked on his target, the crazy, furious Charizard. Togepi began leaping up and down, with a strange kind of hypnotic grace. "Togi togi togi togi!" He repeated over and over and over again, while waving his tiny arms to the same rhythm. Then he shouted, so loudly it was almost ear-shattering, "BRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIII!" 

Misty watched fearfully as a giant Explosion that rocked the already fire-ridden forest burst from Togepi, and engulfed Charizard and the whole forest in a golden glow. She felt the Explosion's fiery effects wash over her, but since she was not a pokemon, it gave her no pain. Then the previously smoke-filled air overflowed with dark black dusty smoke again. 

For a while she could only lay there. It had been undeniably the most overpowering few minutes of her life. Then she lifted her head, tentatively at first, to see that the dust had cleared. It was such a scene of pure devastation that she had to fight tears. Ash, the one person she loved more than anything else, was lying motionless, bruised and battered, next to her. Charizard was fainted and lying in a heap a few yards away. Togepi, her adored baby pokemon, was also fainted from the effects of Explosion. Staryu too was lying fainted on the ground. A few small flames still crackled around her, but somehow over the last few moments they had calmed down nearly all the way. But the entire forest was black with soot. It would be many years before this large patch of trees recovered. Again, her first thought was to tend to Ash, but she rationalized that Charizard could still wake. Shakily she crawled over to Ash's still form and grabbed the pokeball that somehow she knew was Charizard's off of his belt, enlarged it, and called back Charizard. She exhaled loudly in relief that Charizard could now do no more damage. She pressed the button on the pokeball to make it small and placed it back on Ash's belt. Next she grabbed two empty pokeballs from her back pocket and called back Staryu. She hesitated when her gaze reached the still Togepi. She picked him up as tenderly as she could and whispered hoarsely to him "I never thought I'd have to do this, Togepi, but it doesn't look like a have much of a choice." Then she tapped him with it gently and watched as he was sucked into the red and white pokeball. She placed both of the pokeballs back into her pocket and looked at Ash, a lump rising slowly in her throat. She feared tending him, she was deathly afraid of what she would find. It took a generous amount of courage for her to merely crawl numbly over to him. 

Chapter Eight: Determination

Light quivered in her eyes as she held back tears. Her vision blurred every time the word 'Ash' crossed her mind. By the time she reached his still form sobs were collecting in her throat, demanding to be let out. But she refused to release them. Her body trembled with tiring effort, though, and as she laid a hand on his arm she collapsed to the ground, her eyes brimming with tears. Her head landed on his chest with a jarring impact, and that was the final straw. The tears overflowed, and a heart-breaking sob finally escaped her throat. Tears streaming down her face, she pulled herself feebly back onto her hands and knees. She was weak, and she felt sure she was going to fall over again when she swayed unsteadily, but miraculously she regained her composure enough to stay up. She sat down slowly next to him and, with utmost care, picked up his moderately warm hand. She held it up to her cheek, and felt more tears swell up in her eyes at how limp and lifeless it was. 

"Ash," she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion, her eyes scanning him for any sign of movement. Her eyes were decieving her when she thought she saw his eyes twitch and she knew it. She absentmindedly wiped the tears from her face with her hand, leaving small streaks of smudgy dirt and soot across her face. She figured that talking to him would do no good, so she just stayed there, weeping silently, feeling more alone than she ever had in her life. 

Misty couldn't help but notice how deathly still and quiet the forest around her was. It was all so forlorn, the blackened forest, light smoke still swirling disheartenedly from some spots. Save for herself, there seemed to be nothing living between the charred remains of the used-to-be-majestic forest and the pale blue sky that was again cracked with wispy clouds. She let go of Ash's hand, finding it to be too discouraging. 'I'm _not _leaving 'til Ash wakes up.' She told herself strongly as she fiddled meaninglessly with a dead leaf. So she just sat there for hours on end without anything happening, and before she knew it, the sun was setting brilliantly in the Western sky. But she was too numb to notice the beauty of the sunset. She stared straight forward unflinchingly, eyes bleary and unfocused. As the sun disappeared behind the hills, so did the slight warmth that it brought and Misty began to shiver violently, but she still was in her own world. 

Then the stars came out. Somehow, the dark serenity of the night restored her mind, and she snapped out of her third trance that day. 

Erm, Middleword?

Okay, I'm stoppin' there! I know, the chapter's not even done yet, and I'm leaving you on quite a cliffhanger, but I need to know if you want me to finish it! I've kinda lost interest in this particular fanfic (I'm still just as pokecrazy as ever though!) since the newer one I'm writing is so time-consuming and is so much better. I'm going to continue it, but if I don't get a lot of reviews it'll probably be a while before it's finished. The more reviews I get, the faster I'll write this! Don't flame me for leaving you hanging, I was just dying to post it ASAP! Thanx! 


	2. Part Two

Continuation of The Flame Burns Deep

Continuation of The Flame Burns Deep

Before we get back to this *ahem*presentation, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed this (and, hopefully, will review this), this continuation's for you! I hope you enjoy the rest of the first fanfic I ever started, and review if you want to, but I'm not going to kill you if you don't, reviews are very much appreciated, though. Constructive criticism is fine, but don't flame me unless you can pinpoint WHY you didn't like it. It's gonna be sad for a while (two of the main words used in this 'fic are cry and tear(s)), I dunno if it's sad enough for all you readers out there to cry about, but all of my friends cried when they read it at school (I didn't have much finished then). I've managed to keep my Tracey-bashing to the bare minimum 'cuz it didn't seem, well, professional enough to insult one of the characters just 'cuz I happen to dislike him. Well, as I said, enjoy the 'fic!

2nd Half of Chapter Eight: Determination

The first thing Misty saw when she came back to reality was Ash's deathly still body. Tears welled up in her eyes again, but she managed to withhold them this time. Why cry over him? He would be okay. He _had_ to be okay. She sighed heavily and placed her head in her hands, shaking her head back and forth distractedly as if it would take away the lump that had formed in her throat. Eyes closed in concentration; she began to replay the events of the last few days over in her mind, starting with when Tracey left. When she came across the mental message she had gotten right before she had fainted yesterday, her head shot suddenly up. It all made partial sense now. The voice had said she had to confess that she was in love with Ash or something would happen to him. And it did. But how was she supposed to admit it to him when he wasn't conscious? 'Oh well…' she thought, then sighed again. She would have said it straight out then and there, but the tears were creeping up all over again, and she knew that anything she said would indefinitely bring them out, much less something she was sure would bring tears even under normal circumstances. 

Trying to take her mind off of everything, Misty looked up at the stars. She was grateful for the fact that there were no lights around for many miles, so they looked far sharper than she was used to. Just now actually noticing the chilling cold, Misty dejectedly crossed her arms and glanced at Ash. Could people be cold while they were knocked out? The stars blurred up suddenly as she felt one single, small tear slide down her face. She wiped it away and sniffled once quietly, then looked back up at the stars. They were so beautiful. And so welcome at a time like this. The starlight lit up the clearing she was in relatively well. The tiny pinpricks of light in the sky seemed oddly comforting to her for a while, until she remembered bitterly that they were nothing but rock floating around in space. That knowledge somehow made them seem so less magical. She felt a flash of odd anger at the world. 

'They just had to ruin it, didn't they? To ruin the magic of the moment. Humans are so incredibly good at doing that.' She thought, suddenly infuriated. But then, as quickly as it started, the anger dissolved into resentful neutralism. 'The stars aren't really that far away if you think about it…. I guess it was just too tempting for us humans to resist. Why they care so much about what's out there I'll never know…. I guess people just aren't satisfied with what they have. They just don't realize that everything they've had all along is as great as it really is. A human really can't make just one wish can they? They always want more. I guess that's what this creature, who or whatever it is, is trying to teach me. To love what I have, to love Ash, and all my other friends, human and pokemon. I always have loved them, though, especially Ash. But I guess I gotta show it more before whoever it is is satisfied. Why am I sitting here alone? I should let the pokemon out…mine and Ash's. I'm sure Ash would approve of that.' She thought. She reached over and picked the pokeballs off of his belt. His pokemon deserved to know what had happened to their trainer, and best friend. Then she grabbed her own pokeballs from her pocket. 

"Go everybody!" she said, trying to keep at least some enthusiasm. She threw all the pokeballs into the air, with the smart exclusion of Charizard. The pokemon all came out awake (except Snorlax, whom she quickly recalled), much to Misty's surprise. They each gave a joyful cry at being let out, but their expressions turned sorrowful at seeing the look on Misty's face, and, shortly after, their fallen friend. The pokemon's first reaction was to go to Ash, so they did, sadly to no effect whatsoever. They then turned to Misty with eyes clearly asking innocently, "what should we do?" 

Misty nodded her head in a self-explainable no. She had let out Staryu, Poliwag, Psyduck, Togepi (who was still a bit shaken from his earlier battle), Goldeen, Tauros, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. For a while the pokemon just stood there, unknowing of what to do, but then they looked back up at Misty, who's eyes filled with small tears at their naïve displays of confusion. Psyduck was the first one to figure out what to do in this situation. He waddled over to her, and wrapped his short, pudgy arms around her in a rare moment of tenderness. 

"Psy." He said simply.

For a brief second Misty could only gape at him. She had misunderstood him for so long. All he wanted to do was make her happy. What a simple goal. That was all he wanted, wasn't it? And what had she done, she had cast him out. She had yelled at him and screamed at him, and kicked him, done all these horrible things to the poor guy, and now here he was, hugging her wholeheartedly, comforting her in her time of need. A fresh wave of tears overwhelmed her, and she pulled the duck pokemon up and hugged him back. 

The pokemon, too, were surprised at Psyduck's sudden understanding of the situation, but they shook off their shock when Misty pulled him up into that hug. Starting with Togepi, all of the pokemon came over and surrounded her with enveloping hugs and sympathetic tears. Even Tauros, who wasn't quite capable of hugs, came over and offered himself as a backrest. Misty attempted to hug them all at once, but failed and decided instead to hug them each individually. Psyduck still clinging to her, Misty realized that Pikachu was still missing. By now she was already crying about as hard as a person can cry, but that sudden awareness pulled her farther into her already all-encompassing grief. 

She looked over at Ash, silently pleading for him to be alive. When he didn't move, she wondered if there was much hope left for him. The pain was too new for her to be able to grasp the possibility that her best friend was possibly dead, so she roughly pushed the subject out of her mind. 'He can't be gone, I won't let him be gone.' She told herself, and was rewarded with what seemed to be the most welcoming thing she had ever seen. Ash's side rose once shakily, briefly and unevenly, but she suddenly felt a burst of hope. 

She wanted to go to him, right then and there, but when she tried to get herself to stand up, she found she was too weak from crying to do that, even with Tauros' help. The pokemon, seeing her weak struggle to get up, got an idea. They each grabbed Ash by his outer jacket, and dragged him over to where Misty was propped up on Tauros, who was lying down and nuzzling her tenderly. Misty immediately wrapped her arms around him, and began crying into his shoulder. 

"It's all my fault, Ash" she sniffed. "I was just trying to save you. But look how it turned out…. I shoulda just let you find the pokemon yourself. But I couldn't help it. I was worried about you. I'd never be able to live with myself if you had gotten killed. I still won't be able to live with it if you don't…make it through this. I can't live without you, Ash. I…I love you…." She managed to choke out before she had to stop talking for crying so hard. 

Behind her, a very familiar cry sounded out, soft and muffled. 

"Pikachupi!" 

Misty sniffed and turned around the best she could, feebly attempting to wipe tears away, but succeeding only in streaking them across her face. Her eyes were unfocused from all the crying, so all she saw was a yellow smudge, but of course she immediately recognized her friend.

"Pikachupi." Pikachu murmured again. He then walked towards her slowly, hopped over Tauros, who had fallen asleep and crawled into her lap, eyes sparkling with tears. 

His eyes were inquisitive, but Misty shook her head and told him, voice soft, "It's a long story Pikachu, and I'm really not fit to tell it right now. Maybe later, but not now. But Pikachu, Ash, well, he might never wake up." She sniffled a few times in between words, but managed to keep herself under control, not wanting to farther upset Pikachu. Misty knew Pikachu understood the concept of death perhaps better than herself, but saying the words themselves made it seem so much more final. 

Pikachu's eyes turned glassy, making them appear to enlarge. Then he too broke down crying. Misty could only sit there silently, stroking the electric rodent, who was every bit as heartbroken as she. 

For a while Pikachu cried silently, not even sniffling, but then he unexpectedly broke out in a terrible, agonizing sob, making Misty flinch with heartache. His small body became wracked with sobs, and Misty picked him up soothingly and hugged him. 

"Pikachupi, pi pika." Pikachu whispered in her ear, hoping fervently that she could understand him, if only to hear these few words. 

And apparently, she did. Her eyes filled with tears that never fell, and she looked out into the forest, hugging Ash and Pikachu as close as she could. Her face was etched with sorrow deeper than crying her heart out could portray. For a moment she sat there frozen, eyes staring off into a different world, then her gaze swept back down to the dirt and she mumbled sadly, almost inaudibly, "the promise, oh Pikachu, the promise." 

Pikachu could only nod. 

Misty stroked Psyduck once, who had fallen asleep at her side, then looked back up at all the other pokemon, who had also fallen asleep. As she did, an odd sense of déjà vu washed over her. It was strong, yet faint at the same time. It was like she had suffered this before, or at least something similar. Chills ran down her back, and she buried her face in Ash's shoulder, trying to shake it off. But it wouldn't leave, and Misty was overcome with flashes of scenes she was sure she had never seen before. An explosion of pink and blue light, pokemon crying, a small white catlike pokemon with a long tail, and another somewhat similar, though larger one…. Then, when those little scenes were over, other's began to take their place, far more familiar ones.

"Awww, it's just a kid. Oh, and a pokemon! Are you okay?" She heard herself ask in the flashback. She felt a small grin come up at hearing herself say that. She sounded so…disappointed. She would never, ever forget that moment. Then the scene changed.

"And Ash is never alone, cause he's got…" She hesitated to say it, "me." She saw a twinkle of understanding come into Melody's eyes when she had said that. It was almost like Melody had achieved a goal when Misty said that.

They kept on coming, each scene a cherished moment with Ash. They were in no particular order, but each one made her feel both a horrible sense of reality, and slight glow of warmth. Then she felt her mind begin to drift away, into a much-needed sleep.

Her slumber was not a peaceful one, though. It was filled with dreams of terror and panic, and her body shook vehemently with shivers of grief, and her face was again wet with terrified tears. All of the dreams seemed so real, so vivid, yet at the same time far away, in a different reality. Everything was either blurred or unrecognizable, and Misty felt hopelessly lost and alone. 

She was never in a deep sleep, either. She always had a slight grasp on reality, one she couldn't seem to get rid of. It almost seemed like something was pursuing her, following her, watching her, and it made her very uneasy. A few times she opened her eyes, but in her confusion, the black forest seemed far too still. She found herself wondering dreamily if time had stopped so she could feel all this agony all drawn out, and as she wondered about it she became aware of severe aches everywhere, caused by her mind being so wracked with woe. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and she almost vomited, but she had absolutely nothing in her stomach, so she couldn't seem to cough anything up. After a time she fell back into the almost equally disturbing sleep, and was actually able to keep from waking up. 

Sometime during the night, Ash's heart stopped beating.

Meanwhile, the creature, with sadness perhaps every bit as strong as Misty's, had forced itself to watch the events it had caused. It had been hiding behind trees and darted about the entire time, keeping a sharp eye on its supposed victims. _Victims_. It hated to put it that way, but that's what they were wasn't it? They were the victims of its scheming. But it would be over soon. The reward for all of this would be priceless. In the end, it would all be worth it. 

'Waitaminute!' it thought quickly, feeling utterly ridiculous. 'I could fix it all right now, and I think I will.' With that, it sat down on a pine branch, and began to watch Misty, who would occasionally squeeze Ash a little bit tighter and begin to cry all over again. 

Now it could revive him. It could bring him back so simply. 

It focused on Ash, trying to put all of its concentration into him. Its eyes started glowing an eerie blue, but then faded back into their usual clear oceanic color. 'Hmmm?' It thought, frustrated, 'that's never happened before…' it tried again, but something was preventing it from putting all of it's attention into Ash. It closed its eyes; maybe it would be easier that way. For a split second it felt it's concentration go into him, that's what it needed to do in order to revive him, but then it faded again, this time apparently beyond its grasp. A spark of fear burst up. It couldn't do it. It couldn't revive Ash. It began to shiver fearfully. It had killed someone. It, the world's biggest pacifist, had killed someone, beyond bringing back. It began to cry bitterly, for everyone involved, for Misty, and Pikachu, for all the other pokemon, too, for Ash, for the fact that he wouldn't have a future, and the way that Misty was going it looked like she wouldn't have one either. 

The plan had failed. The plan it had worked on for nearly a year, thought about for a long time, intended to bring Ash and Misty closer, had instead pulled them apart, forever. 

So it sped off into the forest, not even bothering to look back. 

Chapter Nine: The Flame

You couldn't even tell when the sun rose. The sky was completely obscured by low, flat, gray clouds, though it was somehow obvious that there would be no storm today. 

The little sleep Misty got seemed to have done her no good whatsoever, because when she woke up that dull morning, she felt every bit as bad as she had the night before, perhaps even worse. She had trouble opening her eyes because they stung so badly. The skin around them was puffy and raw, and every slight breeze that blew made the stinging ten times worse. Her body was constricted with aches and pains everywhere, and she was desperately famished and parched, though she couldn't seem to think of anything but Ash. Her first thought when she woke up was, ' so it wasn't all a dream.' Ash was still limp in her arms, but nonetheless she hugged him tightly as she looked around at all the pokemon, who hadn't woken up yet. Of course, there was no way of telling what time it was, the overcast sky made it seem much earlier than it actually was. 

The pokemon were scattered around her, most within a few feet. 

Misty didn't even have to check Ash's pulse to know he was far gone. She couldn't cry anymore. She too numb, too weak, too hurt to cry. She hadn't eaten nor drank anything in three days, and even if she had the grief was quickly sapping her will to live. So she just pulled Ash to her, and rocked back and forth, now too far away in her mind for anything to find her. She was dying, dying for the annoying kid who owed her a bike. For the kid she had followed for years, putting up with his arguments, his terrible sense of direction, his tendency to never listen to anyone. She was also dying for the fact that she had fallen in love with him, throughout all they had been through together. For the fact she had promised to stay with him forever, and how she could never imagine life without him. No, she couldn't live his death down. 

But Pikachu had other ideas. The moment he woke up, his first thought was to help Misty, he could see in her eyes how much she needed food and water. She was far too dazed to even notice him as he scampered off into a thorny bush, and away from the site where all of his teammates were still fast asleep. 

After searching for a long while, he found a small blackberry bush, with a few overly ripe but otherwise fine blackberries hanging onto it. He grabbed them all, staining his paws purple, and scurried back with them. 

He walked back over to Misty and offered her some, but she didn't respond, so he climbed up on Tauros' back and forced her mouth open to drop them in, then promptly closed it again. 

Misty couldn't taste them in the least, but she still dejectedly swallowed them, and once Pikachu was sure she had, he scuttled back off in order to find some water. 

He was lucky it had rained the night before last, for a small puddle quite a distance from them was the only water for miles. The best he could, he scooped some into his small hand-like front paws, rushed back towards 'camp,' and forced her to drink that too. 

It was extremely disheartening to him when she still didn't respond. As he sat down in the dirt to mope, the remaining pokemon awoke. When they saw Misty, hugging Ash and utterly motionless except for a few faint breaths, and Pikachu, sitting in the dirt with not a bit of hope left in him, they all hung their heads in depression. All mumbling under their breath while many tears were shed, each pokemon, except for Tauros, who decided he had a duty to fulfill until they were both dead, walked solemnly over to their pokeballs, which were lying strewn around them, and let themselves in. They could not stand all the suffering anymore. They too had given up all hope of ever seeing their masters alive again. Even Pikachu, who was crying so hard he lost most of his body control, took one last, blurred look at them, his best friends in the whole world, and muttered under his breath, 

"Pika pikachu pi pika, chu pikachu. (Translation: Until we meet again, my friends.)"

He tripped and fell into the dirt on his slow, sorrowful way to that empty pokeball that Ash had always kept just in case, the first time he had ever willingly accepted the idea of getting into it. His body was shaking so hard he couldn't get up, and even if he could, he was blinded by tears and heartache. His loss was perhaps even greater than that of Misty's, for he had not only lost his best friend ever; he had lost his second best friend as well. But luckily for him, when he reached out his paw, it happened to hit the pokeball's button, and as he felt himself being sucked into it, he couldn't help but wonder with a pain so deep it was beyond comprehension, 

'Why?'

From here on out, his future, as well as the other pokemon's, was as unstable as it could possibly be. Perhaps, someday in the future, a good-hearted trainer would find them, and take good care of them for the rest of their lives. Maybe Tracey would come back and find them, and take care of them. Or maybe their heartache would heal enough that they could let themselves out one day, and live all together, wild and free in the forest. But whatever happened, he vowed he would never forget the two trainers that changed his view of humans, and the world, forever. The last thing he saw before his view of the outer world disappeared was that horribly beautiful scene, Misty, her arms wrapped around Ash, leaning up against Tauros, who felt his service a last favor. Somehow, the way she hugged him like that, portrayed the undying love that never really was, something that the whole world could have learned by, but never would get to see. 

*****

She was so ready to take her last breath. So horrifically ready. 

But something held her back. There was something that had to happen before she died. She had already told the world she loved Ash, somehow she knew he had loved her too, but now he was dead, therefore there was nothing left to live for. She so wanted to free herself from all the pain, but then, something held her back. She fought with it weakly, but it persisted. Now she was doubly depressed. It was so frustrating, she was so ready to die, but whatever it was wouldn't let her. She gritted her teeth and tried to tell it to let her go, with no luck. Then she pleaded, but still nothing. No release from it all, just the appalling feeling that she was so pathetic that she couldn't even die. She had no strength or time for last words. 

It was just then that the high notes of a flute danced through the air. Misty suddenly relaxed and opened her eyes. It soon became apparent that the mysterious piping had a tune, a sad, haunting, but beautiful one. It piped on, so incredible Misty couldn't help but feel a burst of sudden strength from it. The notes flowed together like liquid, and she felt something well up in her, and this time it wasn't tears. 

Every moment of happiness she had ever had in her entire life, most with Ash in them, flashed in her mind to the notes of the flute-like cooing, which was not at all unlike Lugia's Song. It seemed like a higher counterpart almost, but the tune had it's own different feeling to it. It made her feel very inspired all of the sudden, and her will to live slowly creeped back with each flowing note. She wasn't even able to guess what had made the music when all the powdery soot, all the debris caused by the forest fire began to rise around her, up towards the swiftly clearing sky. 

Oddly enough, Tauros seemed completely oblivious to the whole thing. 

The soot just kept flying up, until it was high in the sky, blocking out the sun, which had peeked it's way hesitantly out from behind the still clouds. After a time of watching in wonder and awe as the soot floated up around her, the flute still piping in harmony, the whole sky was covered in what appeared to be a pure black cloud. Then the flute's piping suddenly stopped as the clouds of soot swirled slowly towards the sun, creating a giant black orb, which began to silently shape itself…. 

Totally in shock and amazement already, Misty watched as the soot took the form of a large bird. For a moment the figure hovered in the air unmoving, then, much to her surprise, the soot suddenly burst, almost like an explosion, and every particle of soot disappeared into thin air to reveal a huge golden bird, wings outspread, glittering directly in the sun's path. 

It opened its bronze beak as the last, wavering note of the song sounded loud and clear, and echoed throughout the forest. 

Misty sucked in a quick breath as the last note ended, and the bird began to soar about gracefully in the now totally clear sky and she was able to observe it farther. 

In the sun, its large feathers created blinding rainbows and flashed like nothing she had ever seen. It was dark gold, almost orange, but it had a beige belly, various colored feathers, and a thin ring of green around its neck. Its tail was of substantial size, but was not so much long as it was, well, big. 

Her heart began to thud as it turned its four feather-crowned head to study her with magnificent glimmering eyes of red. Then, in one quick motion, it was heading towards her, an odd look of mirroring wonder in its metallic eyes. As it came closer, Misty felt herself fearfully grip Ash, it had kind of become instinct over the years. But the fear melted away as the bird cocked its head, looking kind of disappointed. It began to turn away, to head in another direction, head hanging low, but Misty managed to croak out to it hoarsely "I-it's okay."

The bird faintly smiled when she said that, and turned its path of flight back towards her. 

When it finally reached her, Misty could see it wasn't as huge as she anticipated. It was smaller than Lugia, about twelve or thirteen feet tall. It landed without hesitation a few feet from her, being careful not to touch the scattered pokeballs around it with its bluish scaly feet. 

Misty's eyes widened in surprise as the bird dipped down in a full bow, then spread out its wings, gave one little happy note, and flew off again. It seemed to be a bit of a show-off as it flew about, doing various simple tricks and trying to make it seem like it wasn't trying to do them, but Misty thoroughly enjoyed its company anyway. 

While watching its kind of silly, pointless actions, Misty began to actually think about it. Why is it here? How could it rise from nothing but cold ashes? Then it struck her. 'Of course! It's a Phoenix! According to legend, the Phoenix will be reborn from ash!' she thought excitedly, taking careful note of the double meaning. 'Does that mean…' she shook off the thought, 'no, that's ridiculous… isn't it?' 

As she pondered about it, the Phoenix again began to sing its beautiful song in a successful attempt to get her attention. 

When she looked at it, it stopped singing and began to stare into her eyes. As it did, she noticed a change overcome it. Its eyes, which had been glimmering amusingly, hardened with determination. It had a duty to fulfill. 

Flapping its rainbow-colored wings powerfully, it flew up, so high in the sky she couldn't see it very well any more. Then it uttered that same last drawn-out note of its song for every living thing in the forest to hear.

Time may have frozen right then and there. Misty felt she could no longer move, and everything around her was every bit as still as she. The air was filled to capacity with expectancy, so strong the breath was sucked out of her. 

But she didn't have to wait long. The Phoenix raised its wings and swooped swiftly down, then came to a screeching halt about forty feet above the forest. There it hovered as a golden fire, very much like molten lava, began to spew slowly out of its beak. The fire slowly drifted down through the still air and began to cover everything in the forest in a soft, orange glow. 

Then the Phoenix turned to her and Ash. The look it gave Misty as it opened its beak and began to breathe that gorgeous fire onto them somehow made up for all the tears shed, all the sadness, for everything. The last thing Misty felt before she fell into a deep sleep was a soft warm tingling and happiness. Ever so drowning happiness….

¾'s The Way Through Word

I have a feeling I'm gonna get killed for not finishing this yet, but that's the end of the 8th Chapter!!! I hope this jerked some tears outta you, I was crying when I wrote it (oh, I know, I'm pathetic) I promise that the **_conclusion_** will be up within three weeks, and don't lose interest 'til then! By the way, I would make Tracey * eh hem *** mysteriously **disappear… but remember, if this was a real episode, he'd be leaving in the next one episode! So bye for now, again, sorry for the cliffhanger, but how else I'm I gonna keep your attention??? 

MistyMew


	3. Almost Da End!

Conclusion of The Flame Burns Deep

Foreword: I'm so sorry this took so long to get up! I was very busy, and I had problems with my computer, plus, the end is the hardest part to write (in my opinion)! Please forgive me! Heh, nothing else to say without giving anything away… Cya at the end!

Conclusion of The Flame Burns Deep

Chapter Ten: Power of the Phoenix

She didn't know how long she had been asleep when she awoke to the sound of crackling flames. 

Groggily, she thought, 'oh no, not this again….' Yet, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she realized that the sound was very weak and the scent of smoke faint. The fire was either very small or far off in the distance. Just to be sure though, she glanced around at the now soot-free environment. Her eyes were immediately directed to a sheer, rocky cliff sticking distinctly out from the blue horizon. Before the fire, the tall looming trees had obscured it completely, but now they were nothing but charred stumps, hardly tall enough to hide a Pikachu behind. On the very tip, just in her range of sight, a tiny orange glow could be seen. She shook her head sadly; she knew the other half of the Phoenix Legend, too, though she had always heard that a Phoenix would live for about 500 years before it incinerated itself. This one had only been around for a little while; still somehow she knew this was indeed the funeral fire for her newfound friend. 

Her fire-induced nap had worked wonders. She was still pretty hungry and thirsty, but the aches seemed dull and insignificant now instead of stabbing sharp. She suddenly noticed in a panic that she had lost her grip on Ash. She didn't know it, but deep in her mind, she had the odd idea that somehow his survival depended on her keeping close to him. She went to embrace him, but pulled away when she realized his previously cold body was now smoldering hot! She drew back in a mixture of surprise and fear. 

'Hmmm…? That's weird….' She thought, the full realization of what she had just felt not fully sunken in yet. Thinking perhaps all of the trauma she had been through over the last few days might be causing her to imagine things, she reached out towards him again. The moment her hand reached his skin, she knew immediately that it had definitely _not_ been her imagination. His skin was so incredibly hot she had to jerk back her hand to prevent it from getting burned from the splintering heat. _It was almost as if he was on fire_. Gently blowing on her slightly scorched finger, she remembered her weird, seemingly impossible hunch from earlier. Her eyes flicked from the burning Phoenix to Ash's still body a few uncertain times, feeling something at least distantly related to hope rise up in her. Maybe…just maybe…. 

*****

The distant flame sputtered indecisively. Once, twice, three times it did that, almost as if it were trying to make a decision.

Even from afar, Misty could see it do that. For hours she had sat there, waiting, hoping it would go out. She didn't even know why. But every time it would flicker, she would put all of her concentration into it, and just ask it, ask it to go out. Ask it to die. Yet also every time it would bounce back, stronger than ever, mindless of her hopeful pleas. 

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She still had only the faintest idea of why exactly she wanted the flame to go out, but now she had it dead set in her mind that it _had_ to go out, and soon. That was the only way. 

She sighed slightly as it again wavered, then regained itself. 

She felt that she had to do something. 

Taking a deep, quivery breath, she mustered up her strength and courage, and began to slowly try to stand up. But she had barely gotten into a kneeling position when her legs buckled hopelessly beneath her, and she crumpled back down to the ground. She gritted her teeth in frustration; she couldn't do this alone. She put her hands securely on the still sleeping Tauros and tried to push herself up using her arms to support herself, but her arms, too, gave in quickly and she found herself on the ground again. Glancing around desperately for something to hold onto, Misty realized for the first time that, besides Tauros, all the pokemon were in their pokeballs. 

'They must've let themselves in,' she contemplated, but then was strangely grateful that they had. 'I hafta do this _myself_,' she told herself stubbornly as a burst of brief, trivial energy caused by her sudden determination engulfed her. Putting all of her newfound strength into her legs to try to keep them from collapsing under her, this time she managed to get into a full standing position. 

She felt triumph course through her temporarily, but it was suddenly shattered as her already shaking legs turned limp on her and she fell down into the dirt, hard. But the pain of the impact was nothing compared to the bitter feeling of defeat. Eyes on the flame, which was waving exultantly high above her in the gentle breeze, a thin tear began to trickle down her face. Down her face it slid hesitantly, stopping finally at the tip of her chin. Then it fell, only to burst on the ground below, too small to even leave a dark spot in the dry, crumbling dirt. 

As she watched the tiny tear disappear, she thought, overcome by helplessness, 'What horribly perfect symbolism.'

And then, unbeknownst to herself, she began to speak. She wasn't talking to anyone really, just thinking out loud. 

"What does it all mean?" She pouted, " It doesn't make sense. Is this how it's supposed to end? After all this…this is how you're gonna let it end, Ho-oh?" She surprised herself saying that name. She had never even heard it before. "What a pathetic life story I have." She said bitterly. "I was born. I ran away from home because I was sick of getting pushed around by my valley girl sisters. I fall in love with a boy I caught fishing. And now, I'm dying for him, because a flame won't go out." She gave a tart laugh that ended as a sob. "I guess life isn't as merciful as they make it seem. When you're young, life seems so simple, like a storybook. But as you grow up, life loses that magical quality. That's just the way things are. You begin to realize there is no way to be perfectly happy; life just won't allow it. I had one wish…one simple wish. But people like that can't exist. Is that what you're trying to tell me Ho-oh? That I can't be truly happy?"

And then it hit her. She understood. 

"I can't ever reach my one goal, because then what is there left to reach for? If you achieve your ultimate destiny, your dream comes true…then there's no reason left to live. The purpose of life is to reach for your dreams. But if you reach them, then what is there left? What is your motivation? At least if you never do achieve it you can know you died trying." 

Then something else struck her, too. "And Ash had to die…because he was getting too good. It was miraculous enough you didn't kill him for the simple fact he loved life, and always looked on the bright side, no matter what. For the fact that he never lost that fascination with everything that most only have when they're little. But if he did become a pokemon master…that's pushing the rules of life, because that's all he ever wanted, isn't it?" Misty had had almost no idea what she was saying, up until the next thing she said. 

"You know…I don't even care anymore. My ultimate destiny was to be with Ash. That's all I wanted. But it doesn't matter to me anymore. In fact nothing matters to me anymore. Yeah, my life would be perfect if I so much as knew beyond doubt Ash loved me back, but if it means that much for me to not achieve my ultimate destiny, then I don't care…just as long as Ash gets to live. If you don't want me and Ash to be together, then bring him back, and kill me now."

Misty fell silent. She couldn't say anymore. She didn't dare say anymore. She didn't have any clue what to expect, but as her gaze swept onto the flame, she watched in fascination and wonder as the flame slowly, but surely sputtered into nothing. And right before it disappeared, a joking, almost frustrated voice said in her head:

"Huh? I was only trying to help…I wasn't trying to make any point (though that _was_ a beautiful speech….), but whatever (I can't believe these are gonna be my last words) …goodbye, and have a good life…you two."

Misty double blinked in misunderstanding five times before she realized what Ho-oh was saying. Overcome with conflicting emotions, she gave a faint wave, then whispered under her breath, "Thank you Ho-oh…and goodbye." 

And somehow, she knew it heard her. 

As she took a moment to close her eyes and let it sink in, she felt lucky…luckier than she had ever felt in her life. But then she reminded herself, it wasn't luck…it was destiny. In a little while, Ash would wake up, and life would resume as normal. Well, almost normal…there would be a few changes, for the better. 

*****

Misty was staring so intently at Ash's face, she happened to notice the tiny twitch of his eyes, the first sign of life she had seen from him for over a day. Her eyes almost filled with tears of joy, but she held them in, wondering lightheartedly how many tears she had left. Hopefully she watched him as his eyes first tightened, then slowly opened to reveal those memorable, beloved deep brown eyes. She could tell immediately that his eyes were very unfocused, but the spark of recognition in them proved beyond doubt that he indeed could see her. Sniffling once, Misty swiped once awkwardly at her eyes, more to ward off the tears than to take them away, but kept her distance for the moment. 

She was surprised when he promptly began to sit up, despite a look of major nausea in his clearing eyes, but she was even more surprised when he succeeded. 

He looked very much like he might drift out of consciousness at any moment, but he managed to remain sitting up. Eyebrows tilting uncertainly, he asked her shakily, an edge of inquisitiveness rising in his voice, "Wha-what happened, Misty?" 

But Misty could not answer him due to the now oh-so-familiar feeling that she was gonna cry, so she just slowly tenderly wrapped her arms around him, and silently buried her face in his shoulder as tears of the most wonderful, fulfilling happiness in the whole world began to drip down her face. At first Ash stiffened up at feeling Misty hug him like that, but before long he too relaxed and hugged her gently back. 

'This,' Misty decided, ' is the happiest moment of my life.' 

But even the happiest moments have to end, for even through her tear-blurred eyes she saw it when Ash winced slightly. She pulled back from the embrace gingerly, and looked in concern into Ash's eyes. She really didn't want to break the dramatic silence, and she felt this one of the least romantic things she could say to the one she loved when he had been revived by the mythical Phoenix, but she also felt it a necessary question to ask, "Ash, are you okay?" 

Ash seemed kind of confused, she could see it in his eyes swirled in with the pain, but he answered tiredly after a small pause. "I-I think so. My ribs hurt a little, and I have a terrible headache, but otherwise, I feel okay…I think. What happened?" 

Misty's concern increased after he said that, though, and she speedily answered his question. "We can catch up on everything later, I think you need to rest right now. Do you think you can walk? It's almost sunset, even though that seems weird to me because I slept most of the day, I guess."

Ash cocked his head. "I'm _pretty_ sure I can walk, but not far, and not fast." He then glanced around him and asked, "Why are our pokeballs all scattered around? And why is Tauros out here sleeping? And where'd all the soot from the fire go? And, Pikachu…he didn't come back, did he?" Ash's eyes filled with tears. 

Misty brightened knowing Ash at least remembered that much. "Oh! Ash, Pikachu did come back! I'll explain the rest later, when we find some where to stay for the night. Something tells me we're too far away from our campsite to go back there now."

Ash perked up at hearing his best friend was okay, then asked, excitement creeping into his voice, "Where is he now?" 

"Pikachu? I'm pretty sure he's in his pokeball. Here!" Misty handed Ash the pokeball that he had always kept for Pikachu.

Ash looked at the pokeball in his gloved hands; perplexed by the fact Pikachu had gone in there. Pikachu had always hated pokeballs. Even in a crisis, Pikachu had refused to go into them, in spite of the fact that it would insure his survival. He shrugged, pressed the button on the pokeball to enlarge it, and threw it up into the air calling "Pikachu, go!" while he did so.

And Pikachu popped out of the pokeball, covering his ears as tears seeped out of his red-rimmed eyes. "Piii…." he squeaked, closing his eyes tightly as if fearing some horrific sight. 

"Pikachu!" Ash yelled enthusiastically, scooping the tense pokemon into his arms for a tight hug. At hearing Ash's voice (though faintly due to the fact he still had his paws over his slender ears) Pikachu let go of his ears and opened his eyes, his expression turning from scared and sorrowful to gleeful and thankful in mere seconds. 

"Pi!? Pikaaa! Chaaa!" He squealed, pressing his head against Ash's chest. He then looked up at Ash, eyes glittering with unexpected happiness. 

"Pi pika pikachu chu pi chu Pikachupi pika pika pikachu!" (Translation: "I didn't think I'd ever see you _or _Misty alive again!") He cried before leaping over to Misty for a reunion of the same kind.

"Misty, what's he talking about?" Ash asked, puzzled at why Pikachu didn't think he'd ever see them alive again. 

Misty sighed. "It's all part of the long story Ash, I'll tell you later." 

"Okay," Ash nodded, mentally trying to push his piquing curiosity out of his mind. As a distraction, Ash began picking up his pokeballs, and Misty followed his example picking up her own and placing them back into her backpack. He recalled Tauros unexpectedly, which ended up with a disgruntled Misty falling back into the dirt. 

Ash sweatdropped. "Sorry Misty."

Misty was glaring at him at first, but then her glower turned into a friendly smile. "'S okay, Ash."

With a trivial struggle, Misty managed to pull herself back up into a sitting position. She felt quite a bit stronger then than she had before Ash's revival. 

"I guess we better get going now Ash, it's getting pretty dark." 

"Yeah," Ash said, then added as an after note, "are you sure _you're_ okay? It seemed like you were kind of struggling to get up." 

Misty shook her head, "don't worry about me, Ash, I'm the one who's supposed to be worrying about _you_, not the other way around."

"Okay…if you insist. C'mon, let's go."

Misty was again amazed as Ash pulled himself reasonably easily to his feet. He swayed a bit, but after that little dizzy spell, he appeared fine. 

Trying to appear as healthy as she wanted to believe she was, Misty placed her hands firmly on the ground and took a deep breath before placing her feet steadily on the ground and beginning to struggle to stand. But her legs were still far too shaky to stand without any support, so she just sat back in the soil looking up at Ash and wondering how she was going to get up. But she didn't have to wonder about it for long. 

Ash held out his hand and she gratefully took it, and with Ash's help she managed to stand. All the blood rushed to her head, making her feel very dizzy and spots filled her vision, but that feeling disappeared after the initial shock of standing up for the first time in over 24 hours. She was still very weak, and she almost fell again, but Ash sweetly put his arm around her waist and let her lean on him. 

Misty blushed a little when he did that, but managed to whisper quietly, "thanks Ash." 

Ash tilted his head, accidentally resting it on Misty's, and asked seriously, "thanks for what?" 

Misty batted at him, affectionately scolding. "For helping me up, genius."

"Oh, that." Ash blushed lightly too; "you're welcome. Do you think you can walk on your own now that you're up?"

Misty wanted didn't want Ash to worry about her, but she knew she couldn't so she simply answered unsteadily, "no."

Ash was faintly astonished to hear this from Misty, the headstrong pokemon trainer who didn't ever ask for help, but he simply nodded as he thought of something to say about that. "Okay, well…um…I guess we can just stay like this, then, but don't squeeze my ribs, they hurt really badly."

"Okay. Let's get going now." Misty felt a twinge of sympathy at hearing that Ash too was in pain. 

Pikachu jumped onto his trainer's unused shoulder, and they were off. Misty found she could walk quite well with Ash's help, and deep down she wondered if her sudden change of difficulty in walking was indeed caused by Ash helping her out physically, or if it was the mental strength caused by the fact he was alive, close, and apparently worried about her. 

She put her head on his shoulder tentatively as she leaned into his supporting embrace more, closing her eyes as she made a note to herself not to ever forget how it felt. She didn't even notice when Ash stopped walking in an almost questioning fashion and was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She nearly jumped out of her skin when he said, totally uncharacteristically serious, "I missed you, too, ya know."

Misty pulled back a little, mystification clearly written all over her face and asked, surprise just as evident in her voice as it was in her eyes, "what do you mean Ash? You were _dead_." Misty put extra emphasis on the word dead, trying to get it through his head that he hadn't just been on vacation.

Ash replied strongly, almost harsh enough to be contradicting her last comment, "I may have been, but I have a story to tell you, too."

Misty lowered her gaze and said quietly, "It's getting so dark, let's find a place to stay."

Ash silently started to walk, as did Misty, and that familiar silence settled in. Pikachu obviously didn't like the quiet, as he began to mumble something incoherent under his breath. Then his black-tipped ears shot up quickly, and he declared while leaping excitedly off of Ash's shoulder "Pikapi, Pikachupi, pika pika pikachu!" 

"A cave?" Asked Ash, following Pikachu with his eyes until the little pokemon reached a huge vine-entangled rock and started pointing at it eagerly. Ash glanced around him, just now realizing how far they had gotten from the place where Charizard had attacked him. Misty was clinging to him gently; she hadn't said anything since the line about how late it was getting. She looked pretty sleepy, but when she realized he was looking at her, she looked back up at him and smiled warmly. 

He broke the gaze to look back over to Pikachu, who was now busily trying to show him where the entrance was. "All right Pikachu, we're coming," he called to the little creature, who was extremely happy he had found shelter. 

The cave was pretty large, about the size of an average room, and was etched into the face of a rock that was large enough to be called a cliff. Pikachu scampered into it, followed closely by Ash, who was gently leading Misty, as she was falling asleep. He set her down so she was sitting in the hard dirt, her back against the wall farthest from the entrance, then sat down next to her, his eyes scanning his surroundings. Pikachu settled himself on Ash's lap, and yawned loudly before closing his eyes and immediately falling asleep. 

Ash gave a small chuckle at seeing his pokemon friend falling asleep so quickly, then said quietly so he wouldn't wake Misty, "So that's why you were so excited about finding this cave."

Pikachu opened one brown eye and studied Ash hazily, murmuring a faint "chuuu…" under his breath before dozing off again. Ash couldn't help but smile. Pikachu seemed so content, even more so than usual. 

Misty peacefully sleeping, her head still on his shoulder and arms loosely draped around his waist, Pikachu dozing curled up in his lap like an some sort of odd-looking cat, Ash was as satisfied as he felt he could possibly be. It all felt so incredibly like a normal night, even though he had never once experienced one like it. 

A blast of chilling cold air drifted into the cave, and Ash shivered despite the extra warmth from Misty and Pikachu. The floor was even colder than the air, so there was no escape from it. And Ash couldn't make a fire without the matches in his backpack. They would have to return to their campsite tomorrow. 

Ash stroked Pikachu distractedly as he stared out into the distance, seemingly deep in thought. 

'I feel so…confused. Not only about one thing either, about everything.' Ash thought innocently, 'Well, I guess I'm a little tired, maybe I should go to sleep. I can talk to Misty in the morning. She seems sorta hesitant to talk to me, like she doesn't have the words to say what she wants to say…oh well, at least I know some of the story, even though I'm not quite sure of any of it.' Ash closed his eyes, scooting even closer to Misty. His last thought before he fell asleep was 'The only thing I'm sure of now is that my best friend is _definitely _in love with me.'

Through the ivy covering the entrance to the cave, a pair of clear, emotional azure eyes watched on, blinking rapidly to ward off approaching expressive tears. It turned around; flicking its long tail as it did so, and darted off into the sky as something like victory coursed through its body. It may not have done it by itself, but succeeding with help was far sweeter than failing without it, especially in this case. 

Chapter Eleven: All Along

Even through the mask of confusing sleepiness, Pikachu cocked his ears when he heard a faded, joyful squeak sound outside. His curiosity overcoming his fear of waking up Ash and Misty, he got up, putting as little weight on his small paws as pokemon-ly possible, stretched, gave a big yawn, and scuttled hurriedly outside. Body tiredly quivering, ears erect and twitching, he glanced around him until he spotted a minuscule white dot racing quickly out of sight. Then, for some reason unknown to him, he smiled and gave it a little thumbs-up, right before it disappeared into the deep blue sky. Feeling oddly like he accomplished something with that simple gesture, he dashed back into the cave, curled back up in Ash's lap, and fell back into a peaceful, satisfied slumber.

*****

In the darkest hour, Misty awoke to the slow pattering of rain against the roof of the cave. The sound was amplified many times over because of the cave's hollowness. Her eyes nervously flitted about the interior of the cave. Her dream had been brief, but deeply meaningful in a way she could not explain. 

In it, a bright light was fluctuating at the end of a tunnel. She saw the light, beaming in a silent promise ahead of her while she stood alone in the dark shaft. The dim blackness of the tunnel had a pulse of its own, but it seemed hollow and demanding, whilst the light seemed to dance, in a both energetic and happy way, and a passive, serene, peaceful way. The two light energies seemed to intertwine, offering her safety and happiness for all of eternity, and the black energy seemed to want to take everything from her. She knew deep down she wanted to get to the light, to know that she would always be happy, yet, the cold, grasping fingers of the darkness held her steadfast. It had a passion of its own, cold and mysterious as it was, and though she wanted to get to the light, she had the odd feeling that something would happen when she tried to reach it, therefore it would be easier to stay there, alone in the dark, waiting, waiting for something fateful to happen….

Misty sat bolt upright, her heart thudding rapidly in her chest and pounding in her ears. She snuggled up close to Ash, but was bewildered when he still felt far away. She tried to shake the feeling off, but was still feeling helplessly alone when her feeble attempts to push the mental feeling out of her mind faltered and faded. Then, the dream began to flash in her mind, and the meaning of it was suddenly clear. She bit her lip in fear as she felt her palms break out in a sweat. She needed to stop putting the dreaded thing off. No more excuses. 

It was pitch back in the cave because of the shadows and darkness outside intermingled, and Misty could barely see anything. But the fear escalating in her chest had nothing to do with that. She sighed heavily. It was now or never.

"Ash?" She whispered, her voice soft and shy. She shook him ever so gently. "Ash, please wake up, it's _really_ important."

Ash opened his eyes the tiniest crack and mumbled emotionlessly, "not now, Pikachu, it's too late."

Misty seemed undaunted by his sleepy remark. "No Ash, it's me, Misty. _Please_ wake up, I-I really need to talk to you."

Ash apparently woke up at that, since he pulled back from the hug and began to rub his eyes. Then he said, ten times more clearly then his last statement, "Okay, shoot."

Misty opened her mouth, but wasn't surprised when nothing came out except an inaudible squeak. It didn't feel right just blurting it out. So instead, she started to talk along the same lines, or at least something that could definitely lead to her final admittance. "Ash, we've traveled together for a really long time, right?"

Ash answered the extremely simple question quickly "yeah, what is it, two or three years now?"

Misty chose her words carefully; she didn't want to say anything that might ruin it when 'The Big Moment' came. She dropped her gaze to the floor as Ash rearranged his sitting position so his back was against hers. "Well, I'll be honest with you. When we first met, I know you remember, at Rhapsody Falls, I never in a million years thought we could ever be good friends."

Ash nodded subconsciously, emitting a hushed "mmm-hmm"

"At first you were just another pokemon-master-wannabe average annoying kid. I only followed you because I was lonely. I only wanted some company, that's all. And I needed an excuse, a cover-up, so when you wrecked my bike, I saw the opportunity. I never liked being alone, so I figured I could just follow you until I worked up the courage to go back home. I figured, maybe I'd stay a few days, at most"

Ash opened his mouth to say something about that, but Misty beat him there. "But things didn't go as I planned. Once I started traveling with you, I saw something in you…just a little spark at first but…now…." Misty silenced herself there. There was far more to tell. She pointlessly cleared her throat. "Anyway, I just couldn't leave. I had never exactly had a true friend; my stupid sisters somewhat ruined it for me. So…I…just…" At this point, Misty kind of broke down. "I dunno," she said, frustrated almost to the verge of tears. Her voice was all choked up, and, while it had been soft and shy from the beginning, it was now so strangled Misty couldn't seem to talk anymore. "I just don't know." She managed to cry out almost inaudibly, before silent tears of encumbrance and silent hope that just didn't seem to be so hopeful anymore. But the worst part was she didn't know why.

Ash turned around, just slightly and looked at the scared and crying Misty through the corner of his eye. Then he said, surprising himself, "you don't have to say it. I heard you the first time."

Misty's tear flow ceased when she heard that, and again she was baffled at Ash's behavior. What did he mean the first time?

Ash could pick up on her confusion, and he said a bit uncertainly, "I guess I should tell you the whole story. I remember everything pretty well, up until Charizard collided with me. For a while, it was all black. But then, I felt like I had woken up in a dream. Like I was in two places at once, because I could feel you hugging me, just a little bit, but I also felt so cold, and faraway. Everything was blurry and faded, and wavering in a strange pattern. Like I was looking at you and my body and the pokemon from underwater. But at the same time, I was looking through my own eyes, the two views kind of overlapped. It was all vague, but I saw this bleak, detached light surrounding you, especially when you cried, then your body would become more solid looking and I would feel a strong power coursing in between us. It made me feel less faraway and faint. I lost all feeling of time, dimension, and space; you seemed both close and distant at the same time. It seemed ragged, and random. One second I would be confused and dizzy, the next seeing everything with enhanced clarity. I don't know how long I was like that, maybe a fleeting few seconds, maybe days. At first I was just confused, but the confusion turned to fear, the feeling of wanting nothing but to escape. I don't know when it was, I get the feeling it was close to the end, though, that you said those three powerful words, 'I love you.' I saw that in almost real-life simplicity. Those words released me, into a dream in which emotions didn't seem to exist."

Misty thought Ash was done, but he continued on.

"The dream was confusing, but I couldn't feel that at the moment. It was short, and I don't know what it could possibly mean. I was on this cliff for a second, then the next moment I was falling. Then, a large bird appeared under me, and caught me just before I hit the ground. Then I woke up." Ash looked at Misty, not at all expecting she'd know what it all meant, but when he looked into her eyes, still wet with tears, he saw nearly full understanding. Then Misty piped up, her voice strong now; "I know what it meant."

Slowly, unsurely, she began to tell her side of the long story, trying to explain her emotions the best she could. She broke down crying during much of it, but didn't stop nevertheless. 

Ash gawked at her in awe of the incredible story, and was so touched at the fact she almost died solely because he was gone, his eyes were gleaming with fresh tears. 

"Awww…Mist'" He murmured quietly, blushing bright red. Misty was smiling shyly, and Ash's eyes bugged out when she turned around, leaned forward and….

"Pikapi? Pikachupi?" Pikachu queried slyly, a wide grin spreading over his face as his eyes took on a mischievous twinkle. His eyes flicked from Ash to Misty a few times hopefully, and then he began giggling uncontrollably as their faces turned so bright red he could see it in the dark cave. 

"P-Pikachu!" Ash stuttered weakly, as his eyes widened comically in surprise. Unable to explain the events of the last few minutes to his beloved electric mouse, he lowered his hat over his face, and said a little too fast to be believable, "'Night everyone!"

Pikachu fell out of Ash's lap in laughter. Misty scowled at Ash, then decided to join in on the fun and gave Ash a quick peck on the cheek.

"Goodnight, my love!" For the sake of the joke, she tried to say that last line seriously, but when she felt Ash flinch, it came out filled to capacity with giggles. 

Ash shot her an embarrassed glance, then defended himself by saying "C'mon guys, I didn't mean it!" 

But his defense turned on him. Misty beamed at him, asking him teasingly "Then what did you mean, Ash?"

"I meant that, oh, do I have to say it? I mean look at Pikachu, he already knows!"

Pikachu stopped snickering and perked his ears at the mention of his name, and then he hopped onto Ash's shoulder and declared "Pika pikachu pik ka, Pikapi! (Translation; "I've known from the beginning, Ash!)"

Pikachu then leapt back down into Ash's lap and quietly began to snore again. 

Ash and Misty both stared fondly at the now sleeping pokémon for a few minutes before turning back to each other. 

"Now where were we?" Misty asked innocently, her large aqua eyes flashing lightly. 

Ash shrugged. "I dunno."

"Oh well, I think we covered everything. I guess we really should go to sleep." Misty pulled Ash into a hug and closed her eyes, but before she drifted off to sleep, she said softly to Ash, "I guess this was all just meant to be."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, nearly asleep himself. 

Outside, the rain pattered quietly on, as if nothing had ever happened at all. 

End Notes (sorta)

Heh, okay, I cannot STAND the end of this thing! Please no flames for unoriginal ending, ya see, I planned this out TWO YEARS AGO! You know, before it was unoriginal. But hey, I suppose I could make up for it in the epilogue (probably not, but I can dream)! That'll be up when ever I get to writing it. Heh, this is weird…very, very weird… this was the first major thing I ever started writing, and now it's kind of sort of over, and now I decided I don't like it, and I decided it sucks, and I can't wait to post something ORIGINAL! Don't worry, I'm writing more stuff with far more original plots ^0^ So be happy everyone! Should I totally re-do this ending? Pretty please review!


	4. Epilogue

Foreword: Time to bring this ancient, dusty thing back from the grave! I finally got to writing this epilogue (although I had it planned all along)! I hope you like the final true end of The Flame Burns Deep, my first fanfic _ever! _I dunno, I think there may be a possibility for a sequel, but no guarantees! What's your opinion on it? Would you like to see a sequel? Ugh, more on that subject after the chapter! Enjoy and be happy!

Epilogue of The Flame Burns Deep

Epilogue: What's Going On Here?

The morning dawned clear and bright. 

Misty, being a much lighter sleeper than Ash, awoke at the first glinting of the sun over the hills, then nudged her quietly snoring companion with an elbow to wake him up (although it did no good). 

Pikachu was already awake, and had apparently managed to sneak outside to watch the brilliant sunrise. He had plopped himself down in the mouth of the cave, utterly silent, ears twitching pleasantly. 

Ash sluggishly awoke a few minutes later, wondering groggily why Misty had tried to awake him at such a ridiculous hour. He then realized that her warmth was absent, and he peered outside, blinking the cloud of sleep away. 

The sight that welcomed his tired eyes was quite splendid. 

The first thing he saw was the golden sun, winking at him from the vicinity of the muted brilliance of the morning sky. Though it was filled with mostly fiery oranges and pinks, he couldn't help but feel, rather than see, a hint of twilight blue mixed in there somewhere. He grinned softly when he saw Misty and Pikachu's silhouettes a few feet from him, holding a contented whispered conversation, presumably about him. 

Unable to remain sitting there for much longer, he stood up slowly and tiptoed as silently as possible over to where his two friends were giggling gleefully.

He was doing a good job of it, but then of it course it was only fate that he would have to trip over his shoelace, which was untied and forgotten about. 

"Ooof!" He grunted as he landed with a dull thud on the dirt floor, causing Misty and Pikachu to turn around, giggling starting up again.

"Good morning Ash!" Misty beamed, her azure eyes just as bright and clear as the morning. They glistened with playful happiness. 

"Pi chuuu Pikapi!" Pikachu greeted him similarly, looking every bit as pleased as Misty. 

Ash tried to manage a joking scowl, but it only worked halfway, as the ends of his mouth curved undeniably upwards. He picked himself up from the ground, brushing the dirt off of his clothes casually. The first thing he did, though, before joining his friends in their merriment watching the sun rise, was tie his shoes. 

Misty wrinkled her nose delicately. "You need to change your clothes."

Ash shot her an irritated glance as he sat down beside her. "Why? Do I smell?"

"Not really, you're just a mess in general."

"Thanks." Ash replied flatly, then realized…"Hey! We left all of our stuff at camp!"

"Yep, guess we should go get it."

"Well, let's get going then!"

"Piii pika!"

They set out hiking, chatting cheerfully the whole way.

It was when the inevitable subject of pokémon came up, that another revelation was realized.

"What about our pokémon?!" Ash exclaimed suddenly. 

"Don't worry, they're fine Ash, I had them out while you were…erm, dead…."

But Pikachu begged to differ. He shook his head grimly atop Misty's shoulder, and murmured, "Pii pika chu pikaaa chuuu, pi pika cha pika chuupi pichu pika. (Translation: "We all were really upset, we thought we would never see you guys again.)"

Ash and Misty listened seriously to the little pokémon, but then smiled. 

"Well, let's give them some good news then!" Ash cried, throwing his pokéballs all up in the air. Right before they emerged, Ash told Pikachu firmly, "If Charizard does anything crazy, shock him good, okay?" Pikachu nodded in agreement, and charged up skillfully for a second. 

Misty threw her pokéballs up, too, and soon a whole crowd of pokémon were gathered around their trainers, creating quite a ruckus as they thundered over for what promised to be one heck of a group hug. 

Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Tauros, Staryu, Goldeen, Psyduck, a weary but enthusiastic Togepi, and Poliwag, all came and entangled themselves with enthusiasm around their two beloved trainers. Ash recalled Snorlax quickly, as he was asleep as usual. Charizard stood outside of the big hug, staring blankly at all the commotion as if he had no clue why they were creating it. And soon it occurred to everyone, he didn't. Charizard was forgiven. He didn't know it, but he was forgiven. Somehow the two reunited kids knew it wasn't _Charizard_ who had committed near murder, it was one way or another someone else's fault. 

It was after all the uproar had settled, that all eyes were laid on Togepi for yet another big surprise. 

The egg pokémon glowed with a soft white light, and he looked like was concentrating very hard. 

"Briii…." He trilled calmly as the glow began to spread through his body, then extend beyond it. 

After the glow disappeared, Misty's brand-new Togetic flew clumsily into her arms. 

"Oh Togepi, I mean Togetic, I'm so proud of you!" Misty cooed to her winged creature, who grinned humbly. "Did you like being inside your pokéball?"

Togetic nodded excitedly. "Toge toge tic, tic toge tic tic tic togetic! (Translation: "I sure do, I would like to stay in it!")

"Okay," Misty said, and Togetic chirped and added, "Tic togetic tic toge tic togetic. (Translation: "It makes me feel grown up!")

"Okay." Misty chuckled, as the exultant gathering ended with Ash and herself recalling all of their pokémon (excluding Pikachu, of course) to make traveling more convenient. 

Misty's smile spread from ear to ear. This had to be the best _and_ worst week ever! 

It wasn't long until they reached the scene of where the dramatic battle and following consequences had taken place. There they found Ash's backpack, lying beaten up on the charred ground, and after another half-hour or so of walking they reached their former campsite. 

Their belongings were sopped and streaked with muddy Rattata footprints, but they didn't seem to mind as they packed up their stuff, getting ready to hit the road again. 

It's funny how things turned out. As if on cue, a shadow swept lightning-fast into the clearing, revealing Tracey, who had a puzzled look that seemed engraved on his face, riding upon the sizable Pidgeot. 

The moment Tracey dismounted, the Pidgeot gave a respectful bow, then streaked back off into the cloudless sky. 

Tracey took one look at Ash and Misty, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. 

"What happened to you guys, you're a wreck!"

Ash and Misty looked at each other, grinning.

"It's a long story, Trace." Ash politely excused himself from having to tell it.

"Pi pika chu cha-ka pik pikachu. (Translation: "I haven't heard it either.")" Pikachu reminded his friends plaintively. 

Misty sighed. "I suppose we could tell it to you guys later." It was then that Misty was struck with an obscure fit of giggling. 

Ash looked at her and caught on. He too burst out laughing. 

Tracey rolled his eyes at his friends' odd behavior, then said, "Well, I have a story to tell you…"

Ash and Misty's laughing ceased, then Misty piped up, "Tell us, Tracey!"

"Okay. Well, you know how we got that letter from Professor Oak asking one of us to come help?" 

Ash, Misty, and Pikachu all nodded absentmindedly.

"Well, I took that Pidgeot over to his lab, but when I got there, it turned out Professor Oak had never written any letters, nor did he really need help. He didn't know who that Pidgeot was or where he had come from, either. I stayed a few days anyway, and boy, it was a pokémon watcher's dream come-" Tracey stopped as he realized Ash and Misty had taken to whispering something in each others ears, and had very conspicuous smiles plastered on their faces. They stopped as they realized he was looking at them, however, and he continued.

"True. Professor Oak and I visited your mom, too, Ash. I'm thinking of staying with Professor Oak when we get back to Pallet, if it's okay with you guys."

Ash's grin hadn't dissipated a bit, which made Tracey slightly nervous, but Ash replied as sincerely as possible, "That is mysterious, and we don't mind if you stay, even though it would be weird traveling without you."

Misty, through stifled giggles, agreed with an "Mmm-hmm!"

"What's up with you guys? You're acting kinda…strange…."

"We-OW!" Misty stomping brutally on his foot cut Ash's sentence short. "Misty! What was that for?!" Ash yelled at Misty, who was smirking deviously. 

"_Don't tell him now!_" Misty hissed, attempting to be subtle enough to be inaudible to Tracey. She was miserably failing, however. "Heh heh!" A large sweatdrop formed on the back of Misty's head. "You couldn't tell it right anyway!" She glowered at Ash, anger bubbling in her voice.

"I bet I could tell it better than you!" Ash retaliated, leaning in closer to Misty. 

"Could not!"

"Could too!"

"Could too!"

"Could NOT!"

Misty grinned devilishly, then bent over farther forward. Her lips briefly touched Ash's, and the poor kid's eyes bugged out bigger than was healthy, but he couldn't be surprised for long, for Misty attempted to shift her feet closer to his, but ended up tripping and falling, thus disconnecting the kiss. 

Tracey was now thoroughly confused. Pikachu slapped the middle of his forehead with his palm in embarrassment. 

Ash and Misty just barely managed to regain their composure and stand back up, but directly after they did they realized the extremely disturbed look on Tracey's face, and, not wanting to explain right now, they raced off, grinning insanely, Pikachu cantering hot on their heels. 

Tracey could only stand there in shock for quite a while, then what had just happened dawned on him, and he hollered after the retreating couple and their pokémon, "Ash?! Misty?! Pikachu?! What's going on here?! GUYS?! I demand an explanation RIGHT NOW!" With that he took off after them, calling out questions the whole time. 

As their laughter and Tracey's questions faded from hearing, a small white creature hovered above the clearing the crazy teens and pokémon had just exited. It giggled lightly; flicking its long tail joyously before whirling good-humoredly around in the air. From there it streaked off into the sky, towards a snow-capped purple mountain….

Mission accomplished. 

End Notes: Awww, *sniff* my little first fanfic is all over! I sure enjoyed writing it, and believe it or not, the original idea for this (thought up almost a full four years ago now) was unrecognizable from what it transformed into. To think, this whole fic all started by me finding a little Mew toy, chewed up on the street. Chibi Pichus go out to anyone who has reviewed and/or will review, you guys are the best! If it weren't for you people, I wouldn't be half as happy as I am now! Good wishes to you all!

MistyMew


End file.
